deleted and posted

I've been more than a little frustrated with the Quilting page of my blog. You can't put separate entries; it's all one big long page. So if I want to look for something specific, that's not possible without scrolling through a long list. So last night during the Presidential debate I started copying and pasting photos from the Quilt page onto a new blog. Since that page was more for me to keep a record of what I've been working on in some semblance of order, this move made the most sense. So my quilting page on this blog is now deleted, and Random Musings will once again be just that - my musings.  If you want to see my quilt projects, they are now located at http://thehardheadedquilter.blogspot.com

Now back to boring housework!!

ongoing and upcoming

Hudson's Hardware released their chick list for the spring!!!! Every year we try to add at least two new birds to our flock since we often lose birds to predators. This year, since so many of our birds have been hatched from birds we've already had, I'd like to add some "non-family" blood to the flock.

But that also means we need to do some repair work on both hen houses we have. The small hen house needs some basic maintenance, like re-attaching the side coverings and the door frame, as well as either repairing or replacing the pen that connects to it. The large hen house needs a little more drastic work. I'm dreaming big here, but I'd like to gut it down to the frame and redesign it. Since we have more than one rooster and the wiring on the pen is getting holes in it (as well as the netting on top, I think now is the perfect time for a new design.  I think with the 8' board, we could easily go to two smaller houses (think duplex) on the same frame with two separate openings into the same pen. That way the roosters would each have their own house (well, two of them would) and hopefully it would decrease some of the pecking between the older hens and the new ones. If we start getting birds the last week of February, then what would give us from now to the middle of March to get both houses done. (We normally start moving birds out of the brooder box into the small house at week 3.)

Upcoming project #2 is the area on the east side of our yard where they re-did part of the road in the paving process. Between the new drainage system and the debris that has been piled in various corners of the woods, rainwater now drains into our yard instead of the the creekbed towards the pond. I'd like to clean out the debris in that area, and create a new creekbed for part of the way until it reconnects with the old one. I think that will save part of our yard. It will still continue to make a culvert in that one section, but there's not much I can do about that part.

And I've almost got my sewing room semi-organized and have an idea of what projects need to be tackled next. It's still overwhelming and a bit formidable, but I'm feeling a tad more confident that I will actually be making progress on things this year. So hopefully, within the next two weeks I'll have something to post in the quilt department. (But I'm making no promises!)

classes

Each year I try to take at least one quilting class. Some years, like this year, I take more than one (depending on cost and time frames of the classes). It seems all the classes are crammed into the first four months of the year this year, and that's okay.

Friday's class was an introduction to machine quilting with a walking foot. For non-sewers, machines have "feet" that are interchangeable depending on the type of fabric and sewing you are doing. Personally, I think they should be called shoes, but they're not. Anyway, I signed up for this class because I know the instructor is an incredible quilter, AND every time I've shown one of my quilts at the store that was quilted with a walking foot she's made a slight face. I figured there must be several things missing in what I've learned so decided to take a class with her. It was well worth it!!

I'll have to post pictures later this afternoon, but the biggest thing was how to knot your thread at the end of the seam without leaving a "nest" (where you see the thread or a bunch of thread on one side of the quilt). I knew how to prevent it at the beginning of a quilt seam, but no one has ever showed a class how to prevent it at the end of a seam before. I was so excited!! Sue also helped me with some tension issues, and answered the questions I had about the differences in needle plates on the machine. My manual says to the use the single hole needle plate when quilting, but when I took a class at the Janome store (where I bought the machine), the quilting instructor said not to do it. The single hole needle plate should be used if doing straight seams with a walking foot, as it prevents the fine points (like where all the points of a star meet) from being pulled downward into the bobbin area. For using wide seams or doing free motion, then the wide space/zigzag plate is okay to use.

While giving us a demo on basting spray (over half our class has never used it and we had questions!), I also learned a new trick to help when pin basting my quilt (mark all center points on each layer's edge and match before pinning), as well as some practical advice on how to stabilize the quilt before doing the detail work that I love to see in quilts.

I was expecting this class to mostly be review since I've had two classes on machine quilting, but this was the most informative and helpful class I've taken on the beginning basics of machine quilting. I don't know if I'll be able to take the second class of the quilt or not, but I certainly plan to work it into my schedule at some point!

registries

I think gift registries can be very good things. It gives you a glimpse into someone's taste and style, allows you to see what a person truly needs/wants, and sometimes can give you a boost into an idea that would be really neat for a gift for a person, even if it's not on their list.  But this week I was more than a little frustrated with one.

Sometimes when a person in our church is having a shower and they've registered for something they need that is more than the average person would spend, I've coordinated a group gift. This week was one of those times. I had checked online, collected the money, but when I went to purchase the gifts at the store, there was not one single thing from the registry at that store. So on Thursday I drove to a nearby town and checked that store. Same thing. I asked a sales clerk about it. This store does not get to order or carry the same brands in every store. They never know what is coming on the truck. The may only get one of an item, and when that sells, that is it. And there's nothing wrong with that, except if you create a registry based on what is in a store, then you'd expect that chain to carry it in most of their stores. I came home a little frustrated and uncertain what to do when I found out that the shower is being postponed because the Mom went into labor three weeks early and delivered a healthy baby boy. So I've ordered all but one of the items online that we had planned to purchase (the high chair is no longer available and can be purchased in a store only). So far only one of the items has shipped. As more and more young  people are creating online registries, it's making it harder and harder to do this as a group.

Meanwhile I'm hoping the "in progress" note on the order means that it will be shipped very soon and will actually arrive before the new shower date. 

on my reading list

Last year seemed full, even though a lot of it was spent waiting...on doctors, on insurance, on sales reps, on chair repairs, on van mechanics. You would think I would have been able to squeeze a lot of reading in with all the waiting, but last year holds the record for the least amount of books I've read in the last 9 years.

This year I'm pushing myself to read some of the books on my dresser that I've kept putting off. My goal is a chapter a week in two different books. Here's what I'm working on now:



and



The first one is making me think more than I've thought since Systematic Theology class in college, and the second is a vivid reminder of how terrible war and bad public policies (in this case Southern policies) can truly destroy an economy.

I should finish Whosoever Will by the end of February. The history one will take much longer. And then I'll be more than ready for something fiction.

waiting on the word...

A few weeks ago my niece Ellen (niece #2 on my side) called my cell phone. It startled me. I almost never hear from her, so my heart was pounding and I was just certain something had happened either to my sister or brother-in-law. She chatted for a little bit, then asked about my quilting projects and if I had run out yet. I had a suspicion she was wanting a quilt, but still wasn't ready for what was to come. I laughingly told her about a woman I overheard in JoAnn's (a chain craft store) saying she had THREE projects going at one time! I looked at Bobby when I heard that and tried not to laugh. I told him I had so many projects going I didn't even want to count them all. He didn't laugh, but nodded and said "I believe it."  When I shared that story with Ellen, she laughed and said, "Well, you're going to push some aside and make time for one more. I'm going to need a baby quilt."

I'm not old enough (in my mind anyway) to be a great aunt, but I'm very excited for Ellen & Kevin, even if this wasn't on their agenda for 2018.  Here's the post she shared on Facebook:

So even though I won't know colors or a color scheme until March, I am tossing around ideas and thoughts in my head. And in the meantime, I am trying very hard to knock out some of my ongoing projects!

the month of excitement!

Last weekend while I was watching the booth for Quilts of Valor at a quilt show in Sanford, I took the time to map out my garden and look through the seed catalogue. I felt like a kid looking through the Sears Christmas edition. (Yeah, I know I'm dating myself there.)

Last year was the first year I didn't feel totally overwhelmed by the garden. A lot of that had to do with our summer helpers (thanks Josh and Jake, even though you don't read my blog!) who did a lot of the yardwork so I had more time to spend in the garden. Bobby even had them do some of the tilling, and when it came time to clean the garden and prep for winter, they donated their muscles to help pull stakes up out of the ground.

So I'm excited about this year. I may be biting off more than I can chew, but I'm excited about it anyway. And Saturday I sorted through the seed I'd saved and compared it to my list, and placed the order for what I didn't have and what I wanted to add/replace. Once I get a few tasks done outside, I'll be cheering for spring to hurry up!

quilt page update

Yes, the pics are under the heading that says December 2017, because that quilt was actually completed then. It's just taken me that long to take pictures and get them loaded!

Last weeks' freeze

January 2018, North Carolina has set a record for the number of days below freezing.

I was determined to break through the ice.
I wanted to know how deep it was.
This is after I pounded 1/2" away.
Two days later as it warmed up I pulled a 1" piece away from the edge.

Several cracks were deep in the ice near the pier posts.
This one appeared to be 3" deep.

My favorite shot.

Our geese walk on water. :)

Snow!

January

I don't know that I can call this month a whirlwind. Perhaps a month of change has been more appropriate. Our church changed schedules last Sunday. Despite the fact that our Pastor doesn't want to use the term "Sunday School", that is what we now essentially have at 8:45am, with our regular service starting at 10am, and no pm service. We're only two Sundays in, so I'm still not totally sure how I feel about it.

The end of December I had a bit of a wake-up call healthwise. We're making some lifestyle changes and I'll meet with the dr again the end of March. Some days are harder than others. I actually drank 99% unsweet tea today at lunch for the first time (on purpose), and thought it was good. I don't know if the changes in our eating habits have made a difference (or that I've quit taking my allergy meds), but I've actually had more energy and am sleeping way better than I was. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a life-long marathon and not a sprint.

I was really hoping to give up group leader responsibilities for Quilts of Valor this year, but that didn't happen. I was all convinced it was not going to usurp as much of my life this year as last, but then I got a call Monday night that a quilt show at a nearby town had a place reserved for QOV and no rep for it. Our group had tried to get vendor spots at previous shows and was told we'd have to pay.  And a volunteer group who's already forking out money for quilts and presentations doesn't exactly have money to throw out for quilt shows. This group was letting us have a spot for free. I actually had a "free" weekend (meaning I was planning to clean house), and couldn't see the point in telling someone from another state that not one person from NC was willing to man a table. So I pulled together flyers for our block drive and quilt requirements, put together an album of most of the quilts our group has done, grabbed a quilt and a card table...and I went. Two ladies from the Fayetteville group joined me Saturday, and I enjoyed having someone else to talk to as well as getting to learn more about how other groups do things.  Tonight I actually went on the group leaders website and saw someone submitted a request for a group presentation of 12 quilts for Vietnam Vets in our town...in 3 weeks. I think we may actually have enough quilts ready/almost ready that we can pull it off, but I'm not sure. It's not officially been assigned to our group, though I'm fairly certain it will be. So I feel as if my role has intensified instead of backing off.

Election work begins again in March. I'm still on the fence about how much longer I'll do this, but I'm committed through this year unless something drastically changes.

And in the midst of all of that, I'm trying really hard to keep the house clean and do more reading than I've done in the past. Hence I'm on the computer a little less, and that is part of the reason why my blog has been so neglected.

Oh...and I will be a great aunt in August. Seems like yesterday I was anxiously awaiting the phone call in China that my niece had safely arrived in this world, and now she's carrying her own child. Nieces and nephews having children are that gentle shove that time has passed me by while I was busy living life.

Hopefully I will find time to write and post pics this week, but I make no promises.