Quilting in the Desert

I attended 2 classes at QID in the last week. It is held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and the classes are at Ottawa University, very handy to I-17 for commuters. Thursday I sewed at Sue Nickels class, Stitched Raw Edge Applique, and practiced her machine applique method. I think I will be using this method most of the time from now on, and Sue is a great teacher and a very nice person too. My block is less than 1/4 stitched, but I did finish the fusing on Friday and will stitch it as soon as I finish the hearts I have at the machine now.
Then on Saturday I attended Cristy Finchers class Suzie-Q, which is a large black-eyed susan using Sharon Schamber's(Cristy's mother)Piece-lique method. It is fiddly, for sure, but worth it if you are making something one-of-a-kind. I sure wouldn't want to do it if I was making 100 blocks! But look at what I made! DH asked what I am going to do with it, but I have no idea. Its enough right now to hang it up until I am ready to stitch it. It is just all glued together right now, as I somehow managed to lose my sewing machine power cord between Thursday and Saturday.
When I unpacked on Saturday, I just figured I had left it at home since I had to unpack and repack before the Sat class, but looked when I got home last night and its not here either. I must have left it Thursday at the first class. I will email Audrey to see if anybody turned it it, but I don't have much hope of getting it back. It shouldn't be too hard to find another (famous last words), but darn I hate losing stuff that way.

No surprise here. Try it yourself at home.

You are a Hippie

You are a total hippie. While you may not wear birks or smell of incense, you have the soul of a hippie. You don't trust authority, and you do as you please. You're willing to take a stand, even when what you believe isn't popular. You like to experiment with ideas, lifestyles, and different subcultures. You always gravitate toward what's radical and subversive. Normal, mainstream culture doesn't really resonate with you.

Are You a Hippie?

January socks


I really need to get a pair of sock blockers. These look very different on. I started with a published free pattern, then switched to a ribbing pattern because I wanted to work on these socks at work and can't be looking at a pattern all the time. The yarn is Tofutsies, from a Sock Club offering several months back, and I used HiyaHiya sx00 circs, 2 socks on 2 circs. I love the Tofutsies yarn and the yardage is incredible. I probably have enough left for 2/3 of another pair.


http://luvkuku.blogspot.com/
http://luvkukukitty.etsy.com/

Take this quiz

You Are 80% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist - even if it's not in the conventional sense of the word. You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.

How Creative Are You?

>

Nasty cold

I am off from work today for my first ever sick day.  I could probably have gone, but just don't think I should be riding around in the bus coughing and sneezing to make everyone else sick.  After all, that is the way I got it and it pisses me off.  I haven't had a real bad cold for several years, and it has surely been because I have stayed out of crowds in cold season, actually pretty much anytime.  But those days are gone, as I have to earn money and good part-time jobs are hard to find.

Its raining off and on all day today also, and I can just imagine what the freeways are like, so I'm glad to be home. 

 

/

Thank you!

Why have people stopped saying "Thank you" to each other?  I'm not just talking about people who don't know any better.  I'm talking about people who WERE brought up to write thank you notes or at least make a phone call when they receive a gift.  Its gotten to where we are even grateful for the occasional email that casually refers to the gift, as that is the best we will ever get.

I rant about this periodically as I have found it to be the case even in my own family.  I can't pretend that it is only  strangers that completely ignore what we oldsters regard as the common courtesies.

Why do I bring this up now?  My MIL and I were talking just before Christmas, and she asked me what she could do about not receiving any thank yous or even acknowledgements of some very "nice" birthday checks she had sent to one of her grandchildren and his wife.  I (not flippantly at all, but wearily) said that she would probably just have to get used to it.  My solution has been to stop sending gifts rather than fret over whether the giftee even received the item.  If I have to know, I send a stamped self-addressed postcard in the package saying that it arrived safely.  Actually, that has gotten me some thank you emails for later gifts.  DH was horrified when I told him I had done that, but then he wasn't the one getting gut-aches from fretting about it.  My own niece has never even acknowledged her wedding gift, a quilt I designed and made myself in her wedding colors, although her mother said she liked it.

Excuse, everybody's busy.  Sure they are, but so is everybody else, and so has everybody always been busy.  People choose not to observe the courtesies or they choose to, no excuses.

I jumped all over one of my SILs because her kids graduated from high school before I even saw an example of their handwriting (as in a thank you note), but she was unapologetic.  She says she just does it for them, and that they will send a note if they REALLY like the gift.  And its true, they both did send notes for their graduation quilts.  But she doesn't seem to care that they have not developed any foundation for thanking.  Perhaps these values are obsolete; my DH says they are.

I don't even give handmade gifts to most people anymore, as they are not valued.  If they were valued, surely they would thank the maker.  I would love to knit socks for my grandchildren, but I have never ever heard from anyone that such gifts are wanted or appreciated.  I doubt if they even know such a thing as writing a thank you note exists.

I'd better quit.  Just getting myself all depressed.  I'll pet the dogs.  THEY are lovingly grateful for even a pat on the head, and feeding them calls for paroxysms of joy.  That'll do.

Desert Dog

Imagine if you will, my 13 pound Robin trying to keep all her feet off the wet ground and still go pee. DH came indoors laughing hysterically after taking her out. The only reason she consented to go out at ALL is that it was raining last night, so she hadn't gone since yesterday afternoon. When you make her go out when its wet, she stands on the stoop rug and waits and waits, picking up each foot in turn to try and keep it dry, until you and Sam come back and you can all go inside.

---