That's how my poor little Featherweight was referred to today in my Featherweight class. It was a basic class in cleaning, oiling, etc., and really wasn't anything more than I'd already figured out from the manual. It was helpful to know that there wasn't anything else I needed to know, though, know what I mean? The instructor also said I might need some rewiring in a year or so, but I'm OK for now.
It was, however, annoying that they delayed the class for an hour to hold a makeup class for something else, and the shop didn't bother to let anyone know.
Oh, and the stupid car polish we were supposed to bring spilled all over one of my bags. And it didn't even work on my machine!
I still have to finish up the challenge quilt tonight. It's a big hot mess, but I WILL get the damn thing finished.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Thank you, Shellie!
A while back Shellie from Shell Creations was having a birthday giveaway. I've linked directly to her post because I didn't manage to get a picture of my lovely prize before it went to live on my desk at work! I won the calendar - someway, somehow I didn't have a desktop quilting calendar yet this year, and I'm *so* glad I was the lucky one this time - I get to look at a new quilt top or block every day!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Results of Snow Dying
The t-shirts, at least most of them, starting with TMOTH's:
Mine:
Mine, #2:
And the Small Man wearing his:
The Fabric:
Mine:
Mine, #2:
And the Small Man wearing his:
The Fabric:
Sunday, February 14, 2010
It's melting!
Photos of the snow dye in progress. They're all in the washer now.
Vomit Girl is feeling much better:
On the quilty front, does something look a bit, oh, OFF here?
Yes. The fish are on TOP of the lily pads. Sigh.
A few minutes ripping and re-sewing later, and the top is done:
Now to finish cleaning off the dining room table so I can sandwich and baste it.
Vomit Girl is feeling much better:
On the quilty front, does something look a bit, oh, OFF here?
Yes. The fish are on TOP of the lily pads. Sigh.
A few minutes ripping and re-sewing later, and the top is done:
Now to finish cleaning off the dining room table so I can sandwich and baste it.
Snow dyeing - the major event
I didn't take any photos of the kids outside squirting dye on the buckets. Too busy refilling the bottles we used up. And taking care of the daughter that was throwing up. Yay.
The bins are now thawing in my bathroom. Everybody got a t-shirt and a piece of fabric, soaked and left out to freeze overnight. We packed the snow on this morning and squirted away. TMOTH decided to try it with a red t-shirt we had hanging about the house - we'll see how that works :)
Bathtub full of the experiment:
Small Man's effort on top - he had to use ALL the colors:
This is the t-shirt from yesterday - pretty cool!
The bins are now thawing in my bathroom. Everybody got a t-shirt and a piece of fabric, soaked and left out to freeze overnight. We packed the snow on this morning and squirted away. TMOTH decided to try it with a red t-shirt we had hanging about the house - we'll see how that works :)
Bathtub full of the experiment:
Small Man's effort on top - he had to use ALL the colors:
This is the t-shirt from yesterday - pretty cool!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Snow dyeing - the beginning
So, all the beautiful photos of snow dyes have turned my head.
I didn't fall all the way - still no "official" dyes on the shelf, just a tie-dye kit from the craft store.
AND, since the other members of my family aren't particularly into fabric, I bought t-shirts as well as 2 yards of 90" bleached muslin, which I cut into 5 pieces. (A cheap experiment. The t-shirts were on sale for $2 each, and the muslin was half price. ) Tonight I soaked them in the soda ash solution and set most of them outside to freeze. Separate bucket or bin for each person; one piece of material in with each t-shirt.
One t-shirt (for me), I couldn't wait:
Yes, that is my toilet. And no, that brown isn't part of the dye, it's some discoloration on the plastic bucket. This is turquoise and green and a little bit of yellow - really really realllllyy old dyes left over from a long-ago tie-dye project. If it doesn't work, I'll just re-soak it in the soda ash and try it again.
I didn't fall all the way - still no "official" dyes on the shelf, just a tie-dye kit from the craft store.
AND, since the other members of my family aren't particularly into fabric, I bought t-shirts as well as 2 yards of 90" bleached muslin, which I cut into 5 pieces. (A cheap experiment. The t-shirts were on sale for $2 each, and the muslin was half price. ) Tonight I soaked them in the soda ash solution and set most of them outside to freeze. Separate bucket or bin for each person; one piece of material in with each t-shirt.
One t-shirt (for me), I couldn't wait:
Yes, that is my toilet. And no, that brown isn't part of the dye, it's some discoloration on the plastic bucket. This is turquoise and green and a little bit of yellow - really really realllllyy old dyes left over from a long-ago tie-dye project. If it doesn't work, I'll just re-soak it in the soda ash and try it again.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Finally, a post with pictures of something other than snow
I did get the left side panel of the diamond challenge quilt finished:
What's that? You don't see any diamonds? Well, no. They'll be on the right side of that panel.
It's kind of wonky in the picture, but it is a rectangle; the lily pad leaves are at the upper left, the flower on the lower left. There's a big open space in the lower right side that I plan to quilt in concentric circles for raindrops.
And, of course, there's still the snow. This was during the height of the blizzard; you can see the snow in the air.
You can see how tall the big shoveled piles are; Small Man is the yardstick here.
And the icicles.
What's that? You don't see any diamonds? Well, no. They'll be on the right side of that panel.
It's kind of wonky in the picture, but it is a rectangle; the lily pad leaves are at the upper left, the flower on the lower left. There's a big open space in the lower right side that I plan to quilt in concentric circles for raindrops.
And, of course, there's still the snow. This was during the height of the blizzard; you can see the snow in the air.
You can see how tall the big shoveled piles are; Small Man is the yardstick here.
And the icicles.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
And...it's snowing again
It's a small victory, but we finished the shoveling from the first snow about 2:30 this afternoon, before the next storm started.
Nothing like slave labor to help with the job:
The falling snow isn't all that clear here, but you CAN see the grill tucked under the scaffold, ready in case we lose power again.
My arms hurt just thinking about the next round.
Nothing like slave labor to help with the job:
The falling snow isn't all that clear here, but you CAN see the grill tucked under the scaffold, ready in case we lose power again.
My arms hurt just thinking about the next round.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
I do so hate the snow
Yes, it's pretty. And pretty unpleasant as well.
We woke up at ~4 am to no power and a big cedar limb in front of the back door (our back door is our main entrance door). Back to bed, eventually back to sleep, and up at 7 to fight the snow dragon.
Doesn't this downed tree covered in snow look like a snow dragon?
By breaking off some of the smaller limbs and using the lopper on some of the bigger ones (have I mentioned lately how much I love Fiskars in all of its many manifestations), we (that is, TMOTH) were able to throw the trunk off to the side. This would be repeated many times today, and a few more times tomorrow.
The yard, again:
I don't know if you can tell how MUCH more snow there is on it than any of the previous times.
The path out to shovel land. That big lump of snow in the middle of the picture is our Accord.
The roof of our house. The bare spots are where the snow periodically WHOMMPs off the house.
Shoveling. This is TMOTH shoveling; I did my fair share as well.
There will be more shoveling tomorrow. Ick.
We woke up at ~4 am to no power and a big cedar limb in front of the back door (our back door is our main entrance door). Back to bed, eventually back to sleep, and up at 7 to fight the snow dragon.
Doesn't this downed tree covered in snow look like a snow dragon?
By breaking off some of the smaller limbs and using the lopper on some of the bigger ones (have I mentioned lately how much I love Fiskars in all of its many manifestations), we (that is, TMOTH) were able to throw the trunk off to the side. This would be repeated many times today, and a few more times tomorrow.
The yard, again:
I don't know if you can tell how MUCH more snow there is on it than any of the previous times.
The path out to shovel land. That big lump of snow in the middle of the picture is our Accord.
The roof of our house. The bare spots are where the snow periodically WHOMMPs off the house.
Shoveling. This is TMOTH shoveling; I did my fair share as well.
There will be more shoveling tomorrow. Ick.
Friday, February 05, 2010
LOTS of snow on the way
I know, two feet is nothing to you upper Midwest girls, but the mid-Atlantic grinds to a complete halt with an INCH of snow. And we're supposed to get a lot more than that. AND 30 mph winds.
This is what it looked like this afternoon:
It's sticking, even to the sides of the trees:
Kona is happy, she loves the snow:
Snow on a bramble next to the compost bin:
The only good thing is that The Lovely Daughter's art class and the birthday party that Small Man were supposed to go to tomorrow are both cancelled. So I can sew. If we still have power.
This is what it looked like this afternoon:
It's sticking, even to the sides of the trees:
Kona is happy, she loves the snow:
Snow on a bramble next to the compost bin:
The only good thing is that The Lovely Daughter's art class and the birthday party that Small Man were supposed to go to tomorrow are both cancelled. So I can sew. If we still have power.
Keep your fingers crossed that we don't lose electricity! The guild challenge quilt (Plan B) is coming along nicely.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
More snow last night :(
I am so done with winter.
This is what our yard looked like this morning:
The lilacs held the snow well - but I prefer them in purple:
I think this is our magnolia:
The box elders:
Looking up into the tree in the center of the ovoid driveway (it's a flowering cherry or something):
The evergreens hold LOTS of snow:
Deer tracks in the snow:
Playing in the snow worked for a little while for the younger set:
Of course, it all melted off the branches by noon:
And now, for something completely different: the Small Man turned 5 yesterday!
This is what our yard looked like this morning:
The lilacs held the snow well - but I prefer them in purple:
I think this is our magnolia:
The box elders:
Looking up into the tree in the center of the ovoid driveway (it's a flowering cherry or something):
The evergreens hold LOTS of snow:
Deer tracks in the snow:
Playing in the snow worked for a little while for the younger set:
Of course, it all melted off the branches by noon:
And now, for something completely different: the Small Man turned 5 yesterday!
Great giveaway
Over at the Creative Place.
Oh, and if you enter? Go for the paper. That fabric stash has my name on it :)
Oh, and if you enter? Go for the paper. That fabric stash has my name on it :)
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Plan B for the guild challenge
The diamonds quilt is too long for the challenge. Despite suggestions from TMOTH, I'm not cutting it off or taking off the last row of goldenrod.
I did some rooting around in my stash and came up with a biggish panel of solid black (I think it's linen), a strip of satin brocade with goldfish, some solid burgundy cotton brocade and solid tan satin. I'm going to applique some water lily leaves and one white bloom on the black part, and use the burgundy and tan in a diamond pattern down one side. It'll be bold, that's for sure!
Photos soon, I hope.
I did some rooting around in my stash and came up with a biggish panel of solid black (I think it's linen), a strip of satin brocade with goldfish, some solid burgundy cotton brocade and solid tan satin. I'm going to applique some water lily leaves and one white bloom on the black part, and use the burgundy and tan in a diamond pattern down one side. It'll be bold, that's for sure!
Photos soon, I hope.
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