Month: January 2016

First of all, Clay and I are so happy that the Denver Bronco’s will play the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 – kudos to Payton Manning and Cam Newton.  I am afraid that this will be the last game for Payton, but boy does Cam Newton ever have a wonderful football career ahead for him.  Great Coaches too!  This will be a very Memorial 50th Super Bowl.  I have watched every Super Bowl from the beginning and what a joy to be alive to watch the 50th!  A sad goodbye to Payton and a resounding hello to a young and upcoming young Quarterback.  Cam Newton loves the game and you can tell he is having a time of his life.  Payton is on the other side of the spectrum  – looking forward to a career change.  We are hoping that Denver can win – wouldn’t that be a great send off to a wonderful representative of the NFL?

OK – what would make me lump the Super Bowl, a Black Cat, Lady Bugs, Stonefield blocks, and Hexagons together?   Yesterday and memories of the 1970’s.

Each morning Clay and I head out the back door about 6:30 AM and go to the Studio for morning coffee, morning news and then he visits with his Ham Buddies on the Radio.  Yesterday morning I was running a little late getting to the Studio and as I stepped out the back door I noticed the neighbor’s black cat coming from the front yard to the back yard.  It politely walked right across my path and my first inclination was to go back and get to the Studio another way.  Especially when I looked up and saw a full moon!  Well, I knew then I should have turned around and gone the other way but just too lazy to do that. My day went to heck in a hand basket!  Being born on Halloween 2 minutes to midnight, I tend to be a little superstitious – especially when it comes to a black cat!  Clay just laughs and laughs at me, but I am a true believer!  If I leave the house and a black cat crosses the road ahead, I turn around and go another way!  REALLY!!  I also believe in premonitions and we should always listen to our instincts!

Here is another reason I do not like black cats!  When I was young and dumb and trying to get ahead in the Government (maybe this was the problem – working for the Federal Government) there were 3 times that I had been interviewed for different promotions!  For some reason, the announcements always came on Tuesdays and the first time I really thought ‘Ah I have a chance at this promotion’ it did not happen.   As I was leaving my apartment a black cat crossed my path!  My parking slot did not allow me to turn around and go another way….. OK – you guessed it!  Three different times this happened over the course of a year.  I was never selected, so I transferred to another agency and my career took off!  (Hum – maybe that cat knew more than I did)  I do believe in the black cat theory just like “do not walk under a ladder”!  I cannot say that yesterday turned out well, because it did not.  But I digress on black cats.

Now to the lady bugs.  Upon arriving home from Arizona in late December I found a lot  of Lady Bugs in the house.  I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and figured that would take care of the problem.  Well guess again – have you ever smashed a lady bug, or had one in your house – it smells horrible when you smash or vacuum them!  My house cleaner thought that I needed to change the vacuum cleaner bag – it was the dead Lady Bugs!  So when we arrived home from shopping in SA yesterday, one of those nice ladies landed on my neck and I swatted it away (I thought)  I kept smelling that darn lady bug and about 5 minutes later I found the darn thing in my bra!!!!!  Talk about doing a dance – I HATE BUGS!  Especially one that gets on me.  Again I was very amusing to hubby – he was laughing so hard he had to take a break from eating that delicious Whataburger (of which I cannot eat).  He makes fun of me because we live in the country with deer, snakes, squirrels, bugs, birds, etc.!  I tell him that is OK – I have always hated bugs!

OK – enough of that tidbit of information that is so far from the quilting world, but it is fun to share isn’t it?

I have really been pushing to finish basting all of the Hexagons that I have cut out for Brinton Hall.  I am putting a huge dent in that job.

I still have a lot to baste, but more than half of them are basted.  When I complete the basting I will start surrounding the Center Flowers and sewing the Medallion together.  I still have to select the background color.  I am doing the entire quilt in batiks and Asian fabrics.

OK – now for Stonefields.  I have finished preparing Segment 3 and here they are ready for hand applique.  While doing the post and labeling each block I realized that I was short a block – hummm cannot blame that one on the darn cat!

The pattern for “Date Night” just did not work well for me.  I tried 3 different fabrics to make the block as the Designer provided but I just did not like the design of the flower.  I  just “happened” to pick up some paperwork on my cutting table and there were some small hexagon flowers that I had made for my Happy Scrappy quilt by Rosemary Youngs.  So here is my Date Night block.

I did complete the sewing cover for my 301 Singer Sewing Machine I purchased last year – I decided to put a red border on it and I love it.  It makes the entire “quilt” pop!

 

Well, this has been my progress, along with the fact that I am working on the Candle Table Runner and 2 more placemats! – Yup – all ready for applique also.  I am hoping to have a lot more completed by next week.  I am keeping my goal of not diverting from my commitment to my 2016 goals.

 

I do hope that those who were “lucky” enough (?) to experience the Blizzard of 2016 are safe and sound.  Today in LV, Texas we have Winter – 48 degrees and rain with wind.  Yesterday it was about 75 degrees!  I love this type of day – best for quilting.  One thing about South Texas weather is that within a week we have Summer, Winter, Fall and Spring – doesn’t it sound great?  I hate it!  I want the 4 seasons back – and not all in one week, but in 3 month increments!  Oh well another pipe dream.

Have a great day sewing!