Internet issues

Here is our Maggie Mae sleeping away. She has been there all day despite all the confusion, vacuum cleaner and Hubby and I trying to get our new TV boxes and internet modem up and running. This sleeping spot was created by me this morning. You would think that it has been there forever.

Comcast forced us to get newer TV boxes despite the fact that our old ones were working well. The darn remote controls did not work. I had to have two at all times. One would turn the TV on and mute and the other would allow channel changes and volume control (sometimes).

The new ones arrived a few days ago and Hubby did his box install first. Then we lost internet for a few hours. But it came back on. He was having a good time showing me all the new features on the remote. Fast forward to this morning and he decided to set my TV box up. Not an easy task with all my junk in front of the TV cabinet. I was able to vacuum in places that had not seen one for years. HA!

BUT!!! The internet would not work at all on his computer. I go days without turning my 'puter on so I did not worry. Thought he would get it working. The poor guy was on the phone with Comcast for three hours. First they said there was an outage. But another phone call and they said there was no outage. Plugging and unplugging. Getting his laptop out and seeing if it was out equipment.  Finally the lady said we needed a more modern modem. Hubby went and bought one. Set it up and spent another hour or so on the phone with Comcast. Finally we had to make an appointment for their help. NEXT FRIDAY! A week with no internet. Now I was getting freaked out. Hubby took the laptop and found a hotspot and did his internet thing away from home. He came home and again we tried with my computer. No go. So I shut mine off. He went to his and tried to load internet and it WORKED!!! I turned mine back on and it WORKS! Guess we needed to hold our mouths right.
PHEW!!!!
XOXOXXO
Subee

April is a new awakening of mind and spirit

I am trying so very hard. And it seems to be working. Positive vibes are, at times, hard to hold on to. But the good times seems to be more and more.

Part of this positive feeling is from spending 3 days with my quilt guild at a retreat in Shipshewana Indiana. Food and fabric and relaxation. Two very special friends are so very important to me now. I am glad I opened my heart and let them in.

I am also trying to feel happy about the impending warmer weather. I am a Winter/Fall type of person. I hate bugs and sweating.

What do you think of this yarn bowl? Isn't she precious? This was created by:
Something Lucky 13. The art of Lucky Stradley. I found her on Facebook but had to order through her Etsy shop. And all the art is named and numbered. My yarn bowl is named Callia. She was born on January 14, 2016.

I had the choice of where the yarn exits the bowl. I decided on the nose and not the teeth. The yarn moves smoothly against the ceramic surface.

Here is a photo of my sweet Bess...we love torties. She is covered in our own home grown catnip. Yep! She is happy.

This is my shaded 9 patch. It has been a Leader and Ender's project this winter.

MaggieMae and Bella snoozing together. It will not last long. Maggie will leave in a huff. All poor Bella wants to do is cuddle. She gives Maggie a great deal of respect. I am sure that soon they will be sleep pardners.

Tumbler quilts...I now have 4 made. As I was looking for another item I ran across my container with precut-tumbers in 4" and 2" sizes. All ready in foursies ready for row piecing.  Loved those templates...

XOXOXOXO Subee

October sewing...looks like I am really back now!

I have been at the sewing machine for three days in a row. Well actually one day was just cleaning the machine and changing the needle.
I started slow. I was not sure how I would feel. I have been denying myself the sewing because I was in mourning for my cat Macy's death. A death that I made the final decision on. A death that I had to carry out. A death that seems to have broken me a bit. But a death that could not be avoided. A death that was a mercy for her. A death that I had to assume the broken heart for myself to help her.
Enough...I am better. I am.

I got my little Leader & Ender container out and sewed all the 3 1/2" BowTie blocks together. This was all I had prepped. I have more cheddar 2" squares cut but no more calicos cut. I am guessing that this will be all it will be and will get it sewn together tomorrow. Then I look at the two extra blocks on point over there and my head is designing. Hummmm...maybe I will wait and look at them for awhile.

And before I sewed I moved all the furniture out, used my new Shark Rotator vacumm, washed the windows and the curtains and then put all the sewing furniture back but in Winter mode. I am facing the picture window again. I cannot do this during the Summer as the sun is way too strong and I have this issue with bright light in my eyes.

I won a gift basket through FaceBook. I had to go get a prize form notarized and was thinking maybe I had won a longarm machine. But no, a few days later a box arrived that was full of goodies! One of the goodies was a white box that had 6 spools of SO Fine threads. How did they know that is my favorite bobbin thread??? I even have the color charts and have the numbers checked off that I have purchased. A couple of the colors were ones that I have but hey!!! A gal can never have too much thread. Thanks so much APQS!!!!

And I also sewed on this monster of a green quilt. I used the free Sister's Choice from Bonnie Hunter's website. (www.quiltville.com)
There are no repeats of greens in all the blocks. I need to get the backing made and then off to the quilter lady with this one.

And there is Maggie Mae helping me. She LOVES those measuring tapes. I have to keep them in the drawer. She loves to bite them. She is scheduled for her Lion cut on Wednesday.

And here is the Lucky kitty helping me. The trick is to lay on anything Subee seems to be picking up. Could be the book. Could be the tray could be the blocks she is hiding.
XOXOXO Subee

My version of Dancing 9-patches is complete!

I learn something every single day I sew. I also learn something every time a make a Bonnie Hunter quilt. My lesson this time was to be CONSISTENT when adding the sashings. I just slapped them on where ever... not a good experience. So there will be another quilt coming from this pattern that is wrong. I did not want to resew the blocks. I sew things with a short stitch length...

I also had a senior moment when I thought I had until September to make this quilt. Another big wrong! Great Grand Son's birthday is MONDAY!!! Glad I had already cut out the parts. I was going to use it as a L&E while sewing the Split 9-patch blocks that are this season's challenge from Our Bonnie.

I taught myself how to knit. So far only meager dishcloths. But I am getting good at them. So I decided to gift Our Bonnie with some dishcloths that were in Easy Street colors. I knew she had a busy schedule. She posted about them this morning. And she will be taking them up to her quilt villa. So as she is doing some housework tasks she will be using my humble dishcloths. I will sure be with her in spirit!!!
Click on the link below to take you to her blogpost and a photo of the gift.
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/08/home-again.html

All done! Just need to get it pinned up and quilted. Okay...I have three days...whoops only 2 days as we are celebrating the birthday this Sunday! Yikes I need to get moving!!!!

A few of the units as I was sewing....

Our tomatoes this year have been fantastic. That is a full size dinner plate the tomatoes are sitting on. I do not see how the poor plant can hold on to them!!! Of course DH gets all my selvedges to tie the plants up. I just checked his container and he is almost out!!! I will get it filled up again!

Maggie Mae and I watched Quiltcam last night. You can barely see Bonnie but she is there!!!
XOXOXOXO Subee

Use it up and wear it out!

Use it up? fabric strings...way down the food ladder but still very doable.
I sent in 20 right/left sets to swap. WHOHOO! Other quilters' strings!

Wear it out? My Organ titanium 80/12 sewing needle. It sewed/pieced 4 butterfly quilts. Then quilted the same quilts and still is sharp! So paper piecing will dull it up soon. But then who knows? I buy them for this very reason. They seem to last forever!

It sure makes a mess but it is controlled chaos. I keep my strings in baggies by color families. Those baggies go into the plastic containers..big ones!

Happily I have 400 spool blocks made now! nice full container.

Our guild does a Secret Sister during our calendar year. My Super Secret Sister gave me a container full of half square triangles. What a great gift. She worked a long time to fill this for me. I played a bit with them. And I love the container too!

I found a few balls of crochet cotton and made 6 doilies. I gifted them to a sweet quilter who made me a special pin cushion at a quilt retreat. They were starched and then dried in the sun.

Hubby found this toy race track. Being a curious man he set it up on the table to see if it worked. It did. It also became Maggie Mae's favorite toy for 2 days until he sold it...poor Maggie Mae!

XOXOXOO Subee

Butterfly quilts and kitties

Maggie Mae has a favorite perch in this house. She wants this wooden stool put in front of the screen door so she can watch her squirrel and bird friends.
She will stretch and even lay down on this small stool.
But...the air is on now and her stool has been returned to the kitchen where it belongs. Poor Maggie Mae!!!

With four cats in the house it is not rare for one of the cats to be "helping" me quilt. And they LOVE the Minkee backings. This smaller butterfly quilt went to daughter #2 for her 40th birthday. WOW! Time sure flies!

I work in controlled chaos as I sew. Making these 4 butterfly quilts was a labor of love. And as they were assembled I made 35 spool blocks as Leader and Enders per Our Bonnie Hunter of www.quiltville.com fame.
Then as I prepared to move to quilting mode I cleaned/straightened up a few things. Then somehow I lost my 35 spool blocks! ARGGGG!!!! I should have left the mess alone!
I sold my Janome 3160 QDC to a very good friend who needed a thread cutting machine for piecing the Bonnie Hunter Virginia Star quilt. I only sewed on it a few times...a waste to have it and not sew on it.
So, I got my my 1932 scroll face Featherweight and set her up for piecing in the back bedroom where I do all my cutting. What a fine sound she makes as she sews. I love that sound. And I made 30 more spool blocks. That back room is closest to the air conditioner and gets very cold. I love that fact! And as I was cutting more backgrounds for the spool blocks I found the missing 35 blocks. I am very near 300 blocks so far. WHOOT WHOOT!!! I have promised myself that I will try to not straighten things up too much in the future.
I have another butterfly quilt all pinned up and ready for quilting. And did 6 loads of laundry today! I am bushed!

This is butterfly quilt #2 and is destined for daughter #1's birthday in July.

This is butterfly quilt #3 and is going to my great son-in-law Kevin for his June birthday. He is such a fine man and a great father to all of Lisa's children.
My goal is to have two quilts that can be displayed in her family room which is decorated with butterflies everywhere!

Okay, DH is hungry and I need to make him something to eat.
XOXOXOXOXOX Subee

Sunbeam hot iron case

WHOOOHOOOO!
My hot iron case came today.
Our hero Bonnie Hunter blogged about this item and I must have been quick enough because I got the last one off Amazon!!!!
Hubby is doubtful about this item because it is made of plastic. I explained about the silicone interior...men!
I am heading for a retreat this weekend but I am only bringing hand work. Yet I am sure this case will still come in quite handy. I can also see me storing an iron in it here at home. Lots of possibilities.

I have my Great Grandson's quilt all sewn. I have the backing pinned into the quilting frame but have not pinned this up for quilting yet. I thought I had a good chunk of Minkee for the back but it is way too small. So I am going to use some turquoise polka dot fleece.
And as usual I have made way too many blocks. I can make another quilt exactly as the one below...what to do......
This quilt is 54" square.

Maggie Mae got her summer haircut yesterday. She never napped at all after returning home. She can lick places previously unreachable. She is such a happier kitty now. She is also trying to squeeze into places she should not be...we have created a monster!!!

How could I not take a photo of Pearl when she poses so sweetly. Our precious Pearl Piwacket. (from the movie Bell, Book and Candle)

This is one of the hand projects I am taking to retreat. I want this to be done so I can begin another Hexie project. I am loving this process...

XOXOXOOXOXOX Subee

Still Hexing away!!!

Here is my progress on the Fussy Cut Hexie quilt.
As I am working on it, it seems I make such little progress. Then I slap it up on the wall, take a picture and am so pleased that it makes all the work worthwhile!

It has taken me a week of some serious TV watching and hand sewing to get to this point. I was watching Downton Abby and then all the seasons for Game of Thrones. Love having cable when they do "Watchathons". But I also made two baby afghans (crocheting). What I work on depends on where I am sitting. HA!!!!

I received my newest issue of Quiltmaker magazine and another of Bonnie Hunter's famous friends (who I met at a quilting retreat) is also featured in this issue!!!
I have Mickey Depre's set of Hexie Templates and her new book. They are both fabulous!

There are not many times that I can get two of my four cats in a photo. On the left is MaggieMae who weighs in at a scant 9 lbs. And on the right is Macy Gray who weighs in at 12 lbs. They are both tortie points. Love the straight white lines on their little faces!!!! Maggie is a Himalayan and Macy is a Siamese Color point. Maggie has a hair appointment next week to get her Spring shave. She and I cannot wait. She gets her tongue stuck in her chest fur. It is funny and so sad.

Ice Cream Containers

I am a fanatic for reusing containers. But this idea came from a blogging friend's simple comment about her husband loving ice cream and she saves the containers.
I am saving them now. Really more than saving them...I am using them!!!!

The square container works a bit better for patchwork but I prefer the ice cream that comes in the round container. I use peel-able labels to identify what I am storing. These have not become a permanent storage for me yet. But they work great for beginning to organize a project.

Here is my project box for the Hexie swap I joined. I am making sure there is no contamination of cat fur here. The Hostess says she is deathly allergic to cat fur. I will do my best to keep her healthy!!!!

I made a few more blocks today. I need 18 of this block "A". Only eight more to go. This is NOT Easy Street. The pattern is called Eye Fooler. I bought the pattern three years ago. It was designed by Spruce Creek Designs for Krisanne Watkins. That is all the information I have from the pattern envelope. Sorry.

EDIT: Thanks for the information. This is how I bought mine...directly from the designer.

http://roguequilter.blogspot.com/2011/06/eye-fooler-update.html


We have a couple inches of snow. Hubby has been out there twice now keeping ahead of the snowfall. What a man. For his reward he gets Ribble soup.

MaggieMae had her "butt" hair trimmed by us today. She is not happy. But we are!

This fabric I thought would not be approved for the Hexie swap. But after sewing and sending a photo to the Hostess, it was approved.

I am sorry to say this fabric was NOT approved. Too much background fabric showing. And I totally agree with the Hostess. This fabric will not be exchanged.

XOOXOXO Subee

Hexagon Swap

This is so right up my alley!! A swap of basted hexagons in two groupings. One is totally scrappy and the other is all 30's fabrics.

http://hexagonswap.blogspot.com/2012/12/basics-for-hexagon-swap.html

I really like the basting part. I have not grown to love the assembly part. So here's hoping that receiving back new hexies after the swap is over will reignite my hexi urges.

I am going to give them a good pressing before I start. And also I want the hostess to say that the two fabrics in the bottom picture are okay for the swap. There are some rules about larger prints. I KNOW I can do some fussy cutting and get the images centered. I will wait until I get her okay!!! Gotta follow the rules!!!

One of my regular swappers on the Yahoo quiltvilleswap is named Victoria. (Love that name) Anyway she always sends a homemade catnip mouse for MaggieMae to play with. The first time I caught MaggieMae trying to bust into her swap package I really scolded her. After I opened it and found the mouse (that was triple wrapped in plastic) I told her (the cat) I was sorry.
The last package Victoria sent had two mouses in it. I hid one in the cupboard. MaggieMae found it the other day....

The catnip on the floor did not come from Victoria's catnip mouse. It is normally how the kitchen floor is in that area. Catnip heaven...so that is why it really tickles me that they still want Victoria's mouses!!!!

All done!!! She napped right where she stopped playing. Oh to live the life of a cat!!!! But then I would want to live here of course.

Or I would want to be a squirrel in this yard. (mine!) They get sunflower seeds and raw peanuts all year round. And that does not count them raiding the bird feeders too! They loved my homemade cornbread. The far squirrel is almost as large as the piece he tried to carry away. Too funny! I did take this picture through the front door window. But it came out pretty good!!!