Day 7 Porch Quilt Show

As predictions for rain share the news with COVID 19 today, I had to become resourceful and find a way to still hang the quilt and keep it as dry as I could.  I figured I could attach it to the shutters on the windows!  And it worked!

This quilt was an odd one.  I purchased it at a Quilt Fair in a bag as pieces just cut out. There was some order to it, but I had no idea what it was supposed to be.  Luckily the person had cut with amazing precision.

I tried several layouts and settled on this one, somewhere between wild and random. This gave it some sense of order.

This is one of my favorites because of the deep jewel colors and the rhythm that flows as you look at the quilt.

I think it was completed around 2007,maybe

We are well, hope you stay the same.  Ahh, here’s the rain now! I hope it washes all the virus away!  Or at least the pollen, which is killing me right now.

The Numbers Have it!

Yes! Numbers fabric win!

I have several things I need to work on this week, the Asterisk quilt being one of them.  I need to get it to the top stage at least.  I am hoping it can get further than that, but it may not make it by the River City meeting.

And I need to at least start on that Challenge quilt.  You won't believe what I pulled in the bag.  Me! The most modern person in the room.  I get the least modern fabric in the room.  I am going to need help that one for sure!


In preparation for retirement, Frank has been making some bold strides.  He bought a computer and I made him get the Geek Squad support package on it since I refuse to get frustrated with him trying to help him understand what he doesn't know and I don't know.  Now he can just call the Geek Squad 24/7 and he can be polite and they can be polite and they can have a sweet fest all night now with each other whilst they figure out his computer!

The other thing is to get Netflix.  And to practice, we are binge watching our first program.  OJ Simpson Trial.

 It took us a while to figure out how to get the controls to work. And we still have our moments.

The weather across the nation was bad for most of the weekend.  Ours was Saturday.  We had a tornado nearby between Carrie's house and ours.  No one was hurt.

This is where the flood waters came  up from.  You can see it is clear and nearly dry, so we are safe!  Barb made Dale go out and check it twice during the storm.  The rain was coming down so hard you could barely see the trees. 

Temperatures fell to 38 last night and will again tonight.  It
is almost May!

About 4 1/2 inches of  rain fell in 45 minutes.  Then for the rest of the afternoon we had another 1 1/2 inch on top of that.  We were never in danger, but the street in front of the house did have standing water.  Something we have not seen before.  I am guessing it is because of  the 4 inches in the 45 minutes.





After the weather cleared we were able to get to Denham Springs and spend a few minutes at the Artist Reception for the Juried and Emerging Artists Exhibition at Livingston Parish Art Council. 


Here is my piece called Speechless. 

Don't you love to see your work hanging in a gallery somewhere!

Rain

Governor John Bel Edwards declared a State of Emergency for Southeastern Louisiana.  This opens the door for the Feds to help.   Can you see Baton Rouge right smack in the middle of it all?

I am glad we made the decision to come home.

Schools are closed, including LSU, that is the biggie closure in the city.  City offices, state offices are all closed.  Many of the restaurants and small businesses are closed.

The weatherman said if this had formed a bit further in the gulf it would be a named storm.  And it is sitting right over us, not moving.

Now we are getting reports of the electrical outages as the lines are affected.  I am always amazed that an area of Louisiana, known for rainy weather, is unable to shed stormwater.  In the city's defense, in the last 18 hours we have already had about 13 to 15 inches, and expect about 9 more.

Check it out  on your weather channel, it is literally a hurricane sitting over us!

We are fine here, it will take a lot of water before we have it close to the house.  But I did note the water filling the area in the back of our house this morning.  That water behind the tree is where we walk the dogs sometimes

And Jones Creek is at the top of its limits on the main boulevard in our subdivision.

None of that water should be there!

More later, I hope we don't float away!

A Nasty Turn of Events

Boy, did we have a rain today!  It came down so fast the streets drains couldn't handle it and the streets had a significant amount of water.

Between today and yesterday's rain we have had over 4.5 inches and I had to download water from the fish abode.  Three gallons offloaded!  Amazing how it fills up so quickly.












Then.....I turned the pump off to give Moby and Ahab and Dino (who we never see) their goldfish chow and now it won't turn on again.  I have never  had a pump go out like this.  The last two pumps were still pumping the fountain that was there before the "fishes of the seas" for 8, 10, 12 years.  Now this is what?  Two Months?








Now the problem is  - how to change it out?  I don't have a large enough container to hold the 31 gallons of water,  and the pump cord goes out of the bottom of the pot on the side.  It has silicon plug that, once removed, will begin to drain the pot!

Aughhh.

And it needs to be changed out soon, they need oxygenated water, you know.



 This is the first day they were in their new home.  They came after I murdered the first pair......











This is the non-working pump and the  healthy pair of fishes.  They have literally tripled in size!  

That thing floating next to them is zucchini.  They LOVE zucchini!  I guess Dino gets some too.  His kind is reputed to like it, too.  I have peas I drop in the tank that go to the bottom, and I assume he gets his share.

Frank has his work cut out for him, he better get  home soon and fix my fishes!  Or he will be working out there in the dark tonight.

UPDATE:  nothing on the fish pump, but Frank is in the dog house because he let me walk around all day AND go to lunch with him with the entire back seam of my pull on jeans ripped out.  AND my red underwear showing.  WHAT?  REALLY.  He admitted he noticed it was ripped "pretty good" when I came out to make breakfast............

A Rainy Day in the Quilt Room

Oh My Gosh!  Did we have rain.

We had 4 1/2 inches yesterday and so far today we have had another 3 1/2.  On top of that Chloe is limping, but she  started limping at 12:30  That is significant because my vet closes at 12:00.

I figured he would feel her shoulder and leg, find nothing wrong and instruct me to increase her Rimadyl and keep her quiet.  We have done this before with that shoulder.  So I increased her Rimadyl.  She didn't want to walk with us anyway.

So all the rain and nobody walking, this will seriously cut into my weekly mileage.  I managed to get in 12,000 steps with only one mile dog walk this morning, walking at the Farmer's Market and the rest of the day cleaning up the quilt room.

Charlene, you would not believe how much I got done!  I consolidated a lot, put some into a pile that will go to the raffle table at Remember Me Guild next week and tossed a tiny bit.

I cleaned off a shelf and filled it in with some fabric from the boxes on the floor.

It is still not clear, but it is a LOT better!

I was such a good girl, I made Frank treat me to some Chicken Shwarma with Greg.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Yesterday while we were at lunch with Patsy and Stacy the sky was pouring forth!  We had 2 1/2 inches of rain in about half an hour.  My fish fountain filled up pretty quickly with that amount of downpour.  When it slows down today I need to download some water. 

Last night it rained again, and now again this morning.  I can't get to my rain gauge right now, but I am thinking it is going to be over 2 inches again.

It  looks like it is right about 2 inches.

Of course, McGee is hunkered down in the laundry room with blankets piled over him.  I didn't get a chance to give him a pill before it was storming since it started before I awoke.

My Med Diet group I am leading has lost a total of 16.5 lbs.  We will do the inches lost tomorrow.  Last week it was an average of 2.5 inches per person total.  That is a bit over 3 lbs per person for the last week.  This week my presentation is on metabolism but I might just switch it out for the one on how to eat in a restaurant.

Now that my house is clean for the visiting UFO-ologists, I hope to have some time to get into the sewing room today.  Or at least do some handwork on the Big Hexagon.  I still have two oranges for April.

Flooding and Rains

So far my rain gauge has given me at least 12 inches of rain.  

I am not flooding but one of our rent houses is in a subdivision that is scheduled to flood by tomorrow morning.  We are tracking it on the FEMA maps. 



We were back there this morning helping a friend who lives in the very back of  the subdivision.  Her house is on the only two streets that flooded in the subdivision during the last big flood in Gustav.  I helped her pack some bags to leave if she had to, and Frank helped load up her car with important papers and food  stuff. 

She has a breathing condition and is often weak and unable to do anything mildly aerobic.  But at like 78, she s doing great!

So I have nothing done today. 

I do have a quilt loaded I can go work on.  maybe I am just unmotivated.  Could be my migraine again.

Towel Rack?

It is pouring rain, cats and dogs!  It is raining so hard that the gutters are overflowing!  I hope all my Dallas friends are high and dry.  We get their weather systems the day after they do.  Ray, do you know how to paddle?





We have always said this is a weird place for a towel hanger.  It is directly over the wall outlet.  Or better yet, it is a weird place for a wall outlet.  But I am not moving that!

When Carrie was little we plugged the holes with those baby proof things because we thought any water dripping into the socket might electrocute her.  We wanted to make sure she didn't kill herself on our watch.  It is the only thing really, about the house I dislike.

I need to rehang the towel holder, somewhere.  So I am considering ways to deal with the placement oddity.  I guess I need to get more plugs for the holes.

Hmmmmm......I am at McDonald's and there is a bomb sniffing dog here.  Just my luck to be in the only Mickey D's in the country to need a bomb sniffer.......

I also thought the suggestions about the toilet paper were pretty smart.  I am going to test the theory that McGee only goes into the bathroom for the toilet paper by putting it up on the window sill and leaving the gate open for a week.  If it works, I will happily hang the holder at eye level and let the next owners wonder!

Noah, Send Us an Ark

It has rained so much in the last few days, we are floating even by Louisiana standards.  Two days ago, I noted slightly under 3 inches of rain.  Yesterday, by about 1 pm it was at 1 1/2 inches.  This morning the gauge held 2 inches. (can you see my stevia behind the gauge?)

that is about 6 1/2 inches in two days.  We had been in a drought
situation but I think that is pretty much cleared up.  While we were in Alaska my gauge held over 5 inches and was overflowing.  No telling how many inches above that spilled over the sides.

Yesterday I was out in much of it.  I had surgery pre-op appointments.  I should have been some sort of medical something.  Most people in my family are doctors or vets.  I found the chest x rays fascinating.  You could see the
outline of my heart as well.  And ribs.  And stomach.  Interesting.  Also something that looked like one of the aliens from some movie.  I wanted to ask what  that was but didn't get a  chance.

They did a full leg x ray which showed both legs.  Is it very interesting to see the entire bone structure of your own body.  I could have stayed in there looking at stuff for hours.

I was exhausted from walking so much.  Not on my bad knee, but the other knee which now hurts more than the bad knee ever did.  Dr. Gorgeous' pronouncement is that the patella tendon (which is really a ligament) is inflamed.  The only thing  they can do is anti-inflammatory meds and pain killers -- neither of which I can have right now at less than 2 weeks out.  So rest is the only thing that will help.

Try telling McGee that.

Frank was supposed to be off fishing from Thursday through the weekend but that got cancelled because of this pressure system swirling over us.  I am glad.  It is too dangerous to be out there in the lowlands and into the gulf in bad weather.   I told him not to kill himself until I can drive again in 6 weeks.  I did however want one of those fish.  I will have to get a fish from the Vietnamese Fish Market.  Not to eat, silly.  To paint!


Today I need to get the Cotton Robin quilted.  It needs to be mailed  off with the La. Traveling Quilt to their next recipients.

Did I show you the block I made for that one?  Oh yes, I did.  It seems like a week ago.

And Carrie's birthday is Sunday.  Whatever plans we can make for that will be small.  She has no house and I have no leg.  It is not like we can accomplish much with that.

Stash Report 7-28-13 Lots of Usage!

 Boy did we have some rain on Saturday!

Baby Elephants

It has been so long since I have had a stash report, i forgot when it was due!

Turquoise Strips

I didn't get much done this week, a combination of health issues and mom and people falling and Frank being out of town.  You know.....LIFE!

The week before I was at the retreat and got so much done but nothing actually completed.  I came home with all those tops ready to quilt and use up some fabric for the backings!  Yes.

So here is my list of what I got done:

Swissy Raffle

1.  Raffle Quilt for GSMDCA - The Swissy People! - 4.75
2.  Turquoise Strips for Carrie - 2.25 yds
3.  Soar - Airplanes - 5 yds
4.  Baby Elephants - 3.75 yds
5.  Taking Names - triangles - 4.5 yds
6.  Moulin Rouge - 3 yds
7.  Elephant Binding - .75 yd
8.  Binding another quilt - .5 yd

Taking Names

9.  Elephant sleeve - .33 yd


So here is my report year to date!  

used this week	-25
Used July	-25
added this week	0
added July	0
used YTD	-95.25
added YTD	38.5
stash reduction	-56.75

Working on my Second Million

Every so often I have to count the change collected in the laundry room and add it to the bank account.  I generate quite a bit of money too!  The other good thing is that I also find interesting things in there too.  Stuff with which I can  embellish quilts.  (Aren't you impressed with my use of English?)

This morning, while it was raining cats and dogs outside, I counted my container of coins and stuff.  This is what I found:

 For a total of $7.11.

And the other thing I did instead of quilting and sewing was to try frantically to change my default browser back to Chrome from some random one I inadvertently checked while trying to get the computer shut down when the lights flickered.  They never went out, but I didn't want it to surge either.  What an idiot!  I don't do any of this often enough to warrant remembering it.  In fact, I NEVER do it unless I do something stupid!  But now I am back in business again.

I am guessing we have had about 1 1/2 inches of rain in the last two hours.  It was so heavy I couldn't see the street sign right across the street.  I live at the apex of a T configuration.  Where the upright meets the horizontal line is where my house is.  I look down that street.  It was raining so hard I couldn't see the street!Of course I can't find a photo of it right now.

Now I will attempt to finish the backing of my Halloween Quilt and ready it for inclusion in the Quilt Your Quilts Challenge we are doing in June.  Come one, someone needs to join in with PattyA The Quilt Lady and me.  She can't win it all!

I have prizes!

Rain Rain Rain - Good for Being in the Quilting Mode

We are expecting storms all day.  Some showers have been through already but we are waiting for

the big blasters to hit soon.  I will work on finishing up the back of the Halloween quilt and I may even work on the frame a bit, seeing if I have a tension or not.  First though, I have to go to the grocery, I need flour for the shrimp crepes I want to make for dinner with that leftover shrimp.

Crepes sound so elegant!  Ann gave me a crepe maker and I finally had a chance to try it out yesterday.  I thought it was going to be complicated, actually it was anything but.

I practiced by taking some finely chopped strawberries, put them into the delicate crepe I had just made and added some whipped cream in the aerosol can........we call it kxsss kxsss. (that is the sound it makes when it comes out!  Try to say it and you will see.  I wasn't quite sure how to spell it though.)  So I finished up the strawberries for dessert after the meeting.  I don't think he was impressed in the least.

Marvelous.  Alas, no pictures.   will get you some pictures of the shrimp crepes tonight.  The Strawberry Crepes actually looked just like this picture from A Pumpkin and a Princess.  I will be at the farmer's market this weekend buying more strawberries and at the grocery store buying more flour today..  I found I can make the crepes ahead of time and keep them in the freezer or the fridge!  Isn't that exciting.

I will post some quilty pictures this afternoon!

BRRRRR! Inside Quilting Today!

The rain held off yesterday all day and that allowed the canals to drain a bit.  Mind you, the water is still very high.  And with the overcast sky with 100% humidity, nothing is even drying.  We have ponding in our yard when it generally drains exceptionally well due to the efforts of my hydrologist wannabee husband.

The temp right now on my covered and protected back porch is 34.  We did get a chance to take the wild hellions for a walk to the end of the street but it sprinkled on us the entire time.  Now they are anything but like in this picture, bouncing off the walls and needing exercise!

Out of self preservation we took the boys and Chloe to get their nails trimmed.  For short trips, DiNozzo is fine.  If it is much longer than the vet or Petsmart, he tosses his cookies.

I am going to get the borders on Maylee's Quilt in a bit.  I can't wait to see it to that stage.  And it will go to the Guild next week with me for a really wonderfully exciting show and tell.

AND I GET THE ELLIES!

glen

Whole lot of rain and a little bit of sewing going on

On Wednesday, I drove down to to Middendorfs to have a long lunch with Cousin Karen and finally get our Christmas present to exchanged.  We had the famous thin fried catfish Middendorf's does so beautifully.  Oh my, that is good.

Cousin Karen gave me a basket full of foods to cook.  She knows I LOVE to cook.  Lots of great looking soups and seasonings.  Can't wait to get into some of those packages.

The weather was so bad on the way down, the fog was thick as pea soup,  I took several photos to show you what a brave girl I am, driving on my ow.  In a torrential storm.  I definitely had my big girl panties on!  Normally you can see the cypress trees that line the bayou along the elevated highway.  You can barely see the vehicle in front of me.




There were several accidents along the way where people had skidded off the roadway.





 There should be no water in this photo!  That is not a lake, it is runoff that has not yet runoff into the Amite River.  Right along the side of the highway.






I went yesterday to have my hair done, I now sport some stripes!  Yes, I look sort of like a tigress!  Beware!

This afternoon I helped a friend set up a blog.  It was like the blind leading the blind as some times.  She would say somthing, I would think it meant something else.  Then we would laugh.

I started on Maylee's quilt.  First I cut up the cute little onesies and piled them up.  Then I put a double sided, oh what do you call it, stitch witchery stuff, on the back and trimmed them down a bit.  Then I adhered them to a thin white fabric to server as a stabilizer.  I like doing that better than

 I decided to put a sashing around each block since they are all different sizes and colors.  I was making it up as I went along!  Imagine that!

Here is what I ended up with so far