Still no camera.

So sorry -- no pictures to show. I still cannot find that stupid camera! I went online to purchase another, put it into the shopping cart and just before I hit the "submit order" button, I thought I'd take another look around. I figure that the very minute I buy a new one, the stinking thing will turn up -- probably right under my nose. I've given it a whole day to show up, but alak! and alas! No go. If I find it after I buy another, you'll hear me scream from here. (I'm such a tightwad -- hate spending money to replace stuff I KNOW I already own.)

Do scary noises in the night give you the creeps? The other night I went to bed overtired, which sometimes causes me to make awful noises in my sleep. DH said when he got out of the shower (I was in bed, sleeping), I was making such a horrible noise he was afraid to come in the room, for fear my head would be spinning around like something from The Exorcist. Well, at least I wasn't SNORING.

Speaking of snoring ... a little while back, we were talking with a friend of ours about snoring. He claims that taking garlic capsules will lower blood pressure and stop a person from snoring. The next time we saw him, he gave us a gigantic bottle of the little gems. We've both been taking them. Several times since, I've been asked if they've helped cure DH's snoring. I guess not. The other night, he fell asleep on the couch and making quite a racket.

I managed to take a flying trip to the quilt show in Lancaster. I saw lots of nifty things there and came home with a head full of ideas of what else I can add to my TO DO list. I didn't buy a lot of fabric, but found a couple of gadgets I thought I cannot live without any longer. I even resisted the temptation to purchase more rulers to add to my pile, unless you count a little plastic template that will help me make a Dresden Plate quilt from a pile of five-inch squares. I am eager to start on it, but have a feeling it will be one of those projects that begins with great enthusiasm that rapidly fades after about two blocks are completed. Nag me, will ya? Keep me on task here.

Okay ... gonna go rummage around some more in search of the run-away camera. If I don't find it before bedtime tonight, I'm buying the new one.

W.I.P.

Here's a sneak preview of the raffle quilt being made by the Endless Mountains Quilt Guild.
(Double-click on the photo to enlarge for your viewing pleasure.)

Members spent this afternoon putting the log cabin blocks together and removing paper. (It was paper-pieced for accuracy -- all batik fabrics.) I will have the privilege of quilting it once it's completed. Tickets will go on sale in May. It will be queen-size. It's so pretty, I'm now scared to quilt it for fear of messing up.

Flatten My Ass!?!

A logger was here, cutting some timber the other day. He brought the logs out thru a sheep pasture and left them at the top of the field, near the road for later collection. When I went out to walk the dog, he was trying to steady the logs and said he was afraid they might otherwise roll down the hill. He said he didn’t want them to roll over my critters. (Thank you very much.) He said, “You know how sheep are, right? If a log rolls and squashes one of them, the rest will all come running so they can get squashed, too. Then you’d have a mess of squashed sheep and one flat ass.” (No … he wasn’t really being rude, just cracking a joke – my donkey hangs out with the sheep.) It was pretty amusing to me, but HE thought he was hilarious. He just howled.
I seem to have misplaced my camera (yes, again.), so I haven’t been posting any photos. I realized today, tho, that I have a few stored on the computer from a week or so ago that I can share.

Peg's purple stars:

                                              Nancy's sampler --



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penny's lavender 9-patch:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cathie's garden:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiring, all.

Honey … I’m ho-o—ome! Anybody miss me?

Actually, I’ve not gone anywhere besides up and down the turnpike a couple of times, but I’ve not posted anything here for ages. In fact, I’m the only one who HASN’T gone anywhere. It’s lambing season. Nothing new about that – pretty much the same as last year, so if you missed the commotion, you can go peek in the archives. Of course, the minute DH set off on an adventure with the grandboys, two young ewes decided to drop their lambs. They’re both like total lunatics, so I could not manage to get them into lambing pens – had to let them stay out in the main pen until DH arrived home to help. He was totally thrilled, after a long day of travel.

From the "Why Me?" Department: I needed some cash to head down to pick up the kids and for them to take on their little toot with PaPa. I was leaving too early to stop at the bank, but realized there was a new branch en route. How handy was that?!? Not very, it turns out.

I had two stacks of checks for deposit that had accumulated over about two months (lambing season doesn’t allow much time to do errands). This is a brand new branch of the bank, and can you believe not ONE of the five pens on the counter worked? One cashier told me I must not be using them correctly. Ummm … excuse me? Do I not look like I know how to use a pen? If looks could kill …

Another gal behind the counter found me a pen behind the counter that worked (I guess she caught my drift tho I uttered nary a word), and helped me by adding both sums, which was nice because math makes me queasy. On the deposit slip, there’s a line to use to indicate how much cash the depositor would like to take from the sum being deposited in cash. I wrote in my amount. The gal quickly told me she could only give over $200 in cash.

“Huh? Why?”
She said because their computers were down.

“So? Do you not have cash in the drawer?”

“Yes, but … “ and then the branch manager stepped in and said I could use my debit card or ATM and get more from the machine.

“I don’t have either of those. How about I go outside and pretend I just came in over and over, and you pretend you don’t know I was here before?”

She couldn’t do that. So I politely (I SWEAR I was polite!) told her I could not accept her explanation, nor could I leave without the needed cash. I even explained WHY I needed what they seemed to think was an excessive amount. (I had to wonder if any of these gals have bought gas for a van or gone shopping lately?!?)

Her new explanation was that it was because they didn’t know me.

“Yeah, so? Considering this branch has only been open about a week, how many customers of this bank DO you know? I’ve been doing business with this particular bank for about 40 years now. Seems to me that YOU’re the new kid on the block. So maybe YOU're the one who should be under suspicion?”

Trying to assure me that it was for my own protection got her nowhere. I simply said I reject her explanation, and would still need the cash for my trip.

She asked what branch I normally go to. I told her. She said she’d call and ask them if they know me.

Good grief! This “quick stop” at the bank put me behind schedule about 20 minutes, but I did get the money I needed and went on my merry way. Exasperated. If life is a test of one's ability to endure, I guess I've failed again and therefore will undoubtedly be destined to try again.

So … on that jolly note, let’s have a peek at something else:

                            What IS that mess? It's some of my 360 Nickel Exhange blocks cut up even smaller -- into quarters, for a quilt I am going to try to do before this year's Nickel Squares are dished out. I think these are approaching three years old. They're from the "Thirties" theme, and it took me about two years to figure out what to do with them. Now I'm going into high gear on it while other gals are here quilting.   Here's Cathie B, with one of her many creations:

A scarf of many colors ...

I guess I'd better find some new victims recipients for my handmade crap creations. The scarf in the photo is made from two skeins of Noro Silk Garden, each variegated and in a different colorway. I thought it made quite a clever-looking scarf. You can't tell by the picture, but it has stripes of many colors, ranging from the blues/purples/greys on this side to some green and rust on the other end. When I asked DH who it should be for, he answered, "maybe Joey?"

Really?!? What in my wildest dreams made me think he might say he'd like it for himself?!? Sigh.

Back-pedalling, he offered, "Joseph and the Multi-Colored Scarf." Right.

I saw a hat posted on the Yarn Harlot's blog, and found the pattern is free on Ravelry so had to try the Wurm hat. It will use up two balls of yarn from that stash -- so what's not to love?

Sue S came and quilted her very first:

Nice job, Sue.

Icy roads here caused some cancellations in the studio. So ... do I stay in and knit my hat? or do I take advantage of the time to finish up a quilt or two myself? Decisions, decisions.

And the beat goes on ...

Remember the old Sonny and Cher song?
"grandmaws sit in chairs, and grandmaws knit ..."

This is said chair in which I sit, with what will be a hat to match a scarf for one of the grands. I sent the others on before I thought to take a picture. Wool. Warm. On another blog I read, there were directions for a Dr. Who scarf. As the oldest grand is a big fan, I thought it would be a great idea to make one for him. The 12 feet of garter stitch was daunting enough, but when I went on a search for the required yarn, I caved. The cost of the yarn would have been high, but because no one place seems to carry all the colors I would have needed, I would have had to pay a ton of shipping charges. Plan B: purchase a ready-made. The kid was tickled. All is good.

Quilters seem to have a universal desire to use up their scraps lately. Gail did this, and quilted it on Monday:

Did you notice the prairie points she used to further eliminate scraps from her stash?
Here's a close-up of a block:

... and here's how it looks on the back:

Pretty cool, eh? And she's a newcomer to the longarm -- it's her first attempt at freehanding. After this one, she is pretty comfortable with the machine, and is already planning her next one. She already makes a slew of quilts -- I cannot imagine what she'll get done now.

... got it figured out, finally!

I could not add photos to the blog in recent posts, but I've finally figured it out. My browser no longer allows it, so I am using a different one. Who makes these annoying changes to the system, and why can't they give me fair warning?!? Grrr ...

So here's Nancy with her quilt I wanted to show last week:

And here is Sherry, whipping out the third quilt in a day. She did a simple meandering all over each, and got them all done in one afternoon. They'll be gifts for folks who helped Sherry's mom during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. (It pays to be nice!)

... and in the barn -- where does one end and another begin?

They are just so sweet and cuddly!

What's next ... waterboarding?

I had quite an adventure yesterday. I was referred to the local hospital for some tests. Ever had a nerve conduction test? No? Well ... it's a ton of fun, let me tell you.

First off, Miss Personality herself led me into a room and barked orders for me to disrobe and don the usual gaping hospital gown that looked as if it had been worn previously and not washed. (Try to ignore that fact, I told myself. It's just a piece of fabric ... ) She didn't seem all that accommodating when I offered the hint that if she would tell me what she was going to do before she proceeded, I'd be a lot more relaxed about the whole thing. But she did say, "We'll start off easy and see how it goes" before she hooked me up with wires and zapped me. It felt very similar to grabbing onto an electric fence.

“Good golly, Miss Molly. If THAT’s what you call going easy, you may want to call in reinforcements to peel me off the ceiling before continuing.” I guess it was actually just a chuckle that came out of her, but I could swear I heard an evil witch’s cackle. Then about 45 minutes more of that, with each zap a bit stronger than the previous, and I was the spitting image of the Bride of Frankenstein. That must have satisfied her, because she stopped and asked if I thought she should do the other side, as well. WHAT?!? I tried not to club her with the nearest thing handy and replied, “unless the doctor ordered it, I’m gonna pass on that.”

It’s very unnerving to have a medical sort of person muttering things like, “hmmmm ….”under their breath while they’re poking and prodding you, I’ve gotta say. She ripped the print-out from the machine and said, “I’ll go show this to Dr. Wubbawubba," (name changed because I cannot fathom how to spell what spilled from her mouth). "Then I’ll either be back to do more, or he’ll come in and insert a needle into your muscle." Oh, joy! Then she left me to ponder for about 10 minutes what that was going to be like. That should never happen with a person who has a highly developed imagination like mine.

Dr. W arrived, spoke at a volume that was nearly undetectable, giving me the low-down on what would happen next. (Was it just me, or does he look suspiciously like someone who practices Voo-Doo from a zombie movie I once saw?)

Anyway, jabbing the long needle repeatedly into me didn’t hurt nearly as much as being fried with electricity, but I had to wonder how many more places he could think of to jam that thing. He continued, and then said, “I have to go get some help. I’ll be right back.” Oh, Heaven Help Me! I had visions of him bringing back a crew of sadists who would hold me down so he could repeatedly stab me without a fight. As it turned out, one woman returned with him, only as a witness that he wasn’t doing something he shouldn’t when he decided to poke my spine, necessitating exposure of my underwear.

I survived. And I didn’t even cry. (Just had to throw that in there because DH said that while he was waiting for me, another woman came out bawling. He had a genuine look of concern when I emerged into the waiting area.)

I smell Easter lilies ...

For several days, every once in a while I get a whiff of the fragrance of Easter lilies. For the life of me, I could not figure out where it was coming from. Then this morning, I discovered the source. It is a new mascara I have been using! Imagine that. Odd, no?
It feels like forever since I posted anything here. Reason/Excuse? Sleep deprivation. We're knee-deep in lambing season here. Sixteen and counting ... so far. Only one black one is this group. I do the night-watch (getting up from a sound sleep to go the barn in the dark); DH shuffles sheep. I keep changing my mind about who should be pen-mates, so he has to re-arrange them every couple of days. There are valid reasons for needing them shuffled, I promise. Example: a ewe whose lambs were stillborn has milk, no babies. Another ewe has a big, beautiful lamb but no milk. Solution: put them together and hope the baby grafts on to the wrong mother. It doesn't always work, but I'm nothing if not hopeful. Then there are the aggressive hags who don't play nice with others, so they can't be left in a pen with a timid ewe who gets pummelled for merely looking at the other one's lamb. See? Real reasons for sheep shuffling. Eventually, everything gets worked out, but it takes a few tries.

Several quilters have been coming and going around here, but I've been too lazy to hunt down the camera to snap photos. I did have it on hand when Nancy C finished up this beautiful quilt. It was a BOM project. She used a simple stars & stripes kind of design in the quilting, and we both thought it came out great. Don't you agree?

Well ... I WAS going to upload the photo, but can't get this thing to work. I'll try again tomorrow, I guess.

You guessed it!

Last Wednesday, we got about a foot of snow:

... followed by another five inches or so on Thursday.
So, yep! You guessed it! Our sheep have a knack for birthing lambs during the absolute worst weather possible!

... and once it starts, it just keeps on going:

I found one of these wedged in between a barn wall and a retaining wall. How do they always manage to find a way to get into trouble at such a tender age?

And get a load of the photo on the front of a birthday card sent by my brother:

Don't ask me where he found such a thing, but we're all cracking up about it! (In case you didn't know, I got a little donkey this past summer.)