Best/Worse/What did I learn today? Come take a chair and chat with us…newcomers always welcome!

No, not a quilt-as-you-go. Each finished block is joined to each other, just as you would any quilt top. When you have the top put together, you add the backing in one piece, sandwiched with the batting. Maybe I'm not describing it well, and maybe it's foundation piecing but you don't remove it like you would paper piecing.

Karen & I share the same non-affinity for flying geese!! What technique do you use to assemble yours? I did a bunch of "4 at once" style but still not real consistent & able to judge the sizes as well as I would like. I would love to see your pattern.

A friend from church's brother's "Celebration of Life" is today. I am responsible to see the meal gets handled. Volunteers & food rounded up, now to just get this one behind me.

They are going to play board games after the service and family meal, so they did not want centerpieces on the tables. I bought a bunch of snacky type foods to put out AFTER the meal while they are playing games. Cheese Puffs, Popcorn, pretzel/savory mixture & some cookies. I made a batch of Rice Krispy treats. & No-bake chocolate cookies, I made both of those on the on the hot plate.

Susan, yes, what you are describing is foundation piecing because you sew the pieces down to a solid piece of fabric and trim when done to your desired size.

Hopefully Adam will know Monday or Tuesday what amount they have been approved fo a house loan. He has been looking online. I admit I HATE wide angle camera views. They can make the smallest room look large!! A yard!!!?? Oh my!

Sunny but cold. I swept off all the snow on the Escape only to find there is a layer of thick ice all over it. It's so iced in I can't even open 1 of the doors. I don't need to use the vehicle until Mon but am going to tackle it tomorrow.

There are some huts back out on the lake. So I am guessing it will be solid enough for the TH and I to walk on it. I'll leash walk the boys in the morning.

I spent a few hours working on the new bush cord of wood dropped off here. I can't 'mad dog' it like I used to when younger. I've learned my lesson about thinking I am 30 again and trying to match my efforts then.

When I logged on to FB I found out another Rotti lover died suddenly Thurs. night. I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach. He was a great man who loved his wife, his Rottis and life. He and his wife had just moved to some property and was going to start up a breeding facility. His first 2 Rottis Popcorn and Jiffy Pop are amazing - he trained them well.

Karen it sounds like your new GP is a keeper.

Betty how is your day going ?

I hear the TH telling me they want inside. Stay safe and well.

Dianne, sorry to hear you lost another Rotti fan. Hard to lose friends. Hugs to you.

Never easy to hear a friend has passed..sorry to hear that Dianne.
Please be careful going out on the lake.
Pat, prayers gets approved for a home loan.

This is the pattern I am also including a like to the site. this pattern is the second one.

https://quiltjubilee.com/tutorials.php

Good morning everyone !! it is a sunny day but bitter cold. I'm working on moving the bush cord of wood that was dropped Thurs.

It truly is a gorgeous winter wonderland out there.

Pat I thought of you last night as I had my Sat. night date with Seattle's PBS. It starts at 7 and ends around midnight. Last night they featured the early years of Fleet Wood Mac with lots of interesting guests.. Also a favourite artist on mine Jonny Lang was featured.. I've been following Lang's career for years. It featured some excellent music from the 60's and 70's. Then there was a repeat of a concert Willie Nelson gave in Japan in 1984. Even Steven Tyler showed up to do his regular antics of owning the stage with outrageous behaviour. I loved it !!

I have to deice my Escape. I can't get any of the doors open. I swept the snow off of of it only to find it was encased with ice. I am hoping the sun will help me. I'm in for a lot of scraping.

Betty are you a bit more mobile this morning ? Don't push it or you will be back in a world of pain.

Thanks for the words of condolences. I'll miss Troy's daily wit, adventures with Popcorn, Jiffy Pop and all their little kernels.

Chance of freezing rain later this week... oh joy!

What's everyone up to today ?

Morning everyone, 7F so bitter cold

Oppps off to let ziggy in

Didn’t take long for Ziggy to rich in lol

Sorry to hear about Troy, my condolences..many of our online friends are family and difficult to hear of their death. Had he been I’ll? Yesterday i went to Barrie, she drove my car and luckily she did because by the time we did a few stores & i got home i was done in. I had the same trouble Dianne, i cleared the windshield and there was a heavy sheet of ice so I started the car from inside about 4 times before I was able to get through with a scrapper. Sun us supper strong so if it’s like that at your house it should melt off fairly easily. Can’t you just escape the troubles of the world by listening to good music. Ice breaker in town.

Pat, here is hoping that Adam gets enough to get him his own home. Are the down payments very high? Know out banks upped the down payments high that most people can’t afford to get a home and yet they are paying far more for rent than what their monthly mortgage would be.

Karen, i believe that is the method i used for a couple of my quilts, they turnout wonderful

Lindakay, 18th is getting closer..i keep thinking how hard it must be for the 2 of you

Yesterday I went to Barrie with Sharon in the afternoon, she drove my vehicle, wouldn’t allow me to drive so decided she would come with me. She decided to purchase some clothing for her Africa trip, took a tad longer than she hoped but the attendant of changing room could see my discomfort so got me a chair, god bless her. After dropping Sharon off I went to Suzanne’s, kept trying to call her to have someone meet me at the car to get the Xmas gifts then I could leave but her phone was downstairs so I had to hobble to their door watching I didn’t fall on the ice. i stayed an hour, Lenny was sleeping when i got there but Suzanne said he wouldn’t be happy if he missed my visit.. how tired he looked, the cancerous growth in lung is quite big and spread in other areas of the lung, specialist is hoping to get an opening for the scope, through mouths back as it’s less invasive…her next appointment for that is mid Marchand said she didn’t want to wait that long so they are hoping they will hear early week about a booking.

Darlene’s Johan starts his 33 chemo sessions Tuesday, because it’s in Newmarket every other day they were able to rent a hotel suite nearby hospital til sessions are over.

Well, I’m couch bound today but i had planned a Valentine’s Day workshop for the 29th, I’ve all the supplies bought soI need to make a gnome, sooo between sitting on the couch and getting supplies upstairs I just might be able to make one.

Hope nobody drops in because it’s a nighty day

Hope you all have great weather and get to enjoy your day.

You ladies please be careful going out with the ice on the ground.
Betty, I love that valentines quilt. That ice breaker looks huge.

Betty - I hope no one drops in, either - a nighty day sounds good for you.
So many people with cacer, it's hard to believe. Prayers for all. That Valentine's quilt looks beautiful.
Diane, so sorry to hear about your friend Troy's passing. My condolences.
Be careful of that ice, everyone. I woke up to an ice covered car the other day. Apparently I have a carbon monoxide leak in my car, so I'll take it in on Monday. I won't be driving it much, unless I keep the window open a crack. My mechanic is only 2 blocks away, in town.
The lap quilt I'll be teaching is a Log Cabin one. I'm making one ahead of time so they can see what they're making. It should be easy & quick enough if they cut the 2 1/2" strips ahead of time. 7 fabrics....... now, to figure out the yardage lol That's the tough part!
I'm making two now, so I can show them what it looks like - 2 versions.

Susan, I don't remember that you were teaching classes!! Yep, figuring yardage, the bain of our existence!
Betty, glad you are feeling better. I remember that pretty Valentine quilt. I especially like the LOVE block.
Dianne I have never really been into music but my sweet Ben was. So are 2 of my sons, 1 of my brothers was.

I hope everyone had a warm & safe weekend.

My sewing machine gave me fits yesterday afternoon & I put it away in disgust. Hopefully overnight the Sewing Machine Fairys have done their magic and it is playing friendly again.

Mine have done that too. Every time, I knew it was time to walk away. When I go back, I give it a good cleaning, re thread it and it is good to go.

Morning all, sitting enjoying the sunshine, it’s 34F but with the heat coming through the window I might be able to get a sun tan. maybe the gnomes I am putting together might even get one lol

Pat nothing worse then a machine not cooperating when you so want to sew and exactly that, I do think night fairies come and fix the problem so here is hope today it will be a sew sew day.

I thought before I teach the gnome kids workshop on the 29th best I try to make one to see I have all the supplies I need for 25-30of them, what a mess on my coffee table..i should be starting that little kittie cat knitting piece first but I really should get gnomes done first.

I went to the pharmacy this morning for cold meds..my throat is sore and I’ve the sniffles so i am hoping I catch it in time.

Had meat pie, scalloped potatoes and veggies, haven’t been hungry lately but i thinking will have a nice lunch and fill myself.

What are you all up to??

Not doing much.
Betty, for the gnomes, I buy fish tank gravel. It gives it nice weight, and will keep the mice away. Several people learned the hard way not to put rice or beans in the bottom.
I am sure you already know, but use an exact knife to cut your fake fur from.the back.

Judy just called me. She got a phone call this morning that her sister passed away, probably sometime Friday. Please keep her in your prayers.

I wish I had known about an alternative when I made microwave heating pads for my hands!

Marie & I found a place that is a liquidation place. Everything on the tables is $10 on Friday, $8 Saturday, $6 Sunday, $4 on Monday, $2 Tuesday and $1 Wednesday, closed on Thursday to restock. I will go back on Wednesday to see what they still have. They had small blankets, disposable foil pans &more. There were some toy & book combinations I would like to buy in advance for donations next Christmas.

I never got back to the sewing machine today. I will this evening.


Marie bought underwear & socks for St Vincent de Paul clothing exchange today @ $4 & I will start haunting them on Wednesday to see if I can get her more for $1 in the future.

Wish we had a store like that here.

We were at the outlet buying warm men's clothes by the pound for SVdP when another shopper told me. I had never heard of it before! I likely will make it a habit to go on Tuesday and Wednesdays for a while.

I am off to try out my sewing machine & hope it's working!

Pat - this teaching quilting is a new venture for me. I'm making a log cabin quilt to remind myself of all the assembly line stuff that makes is so much quicker & easier (cutting strips, rather than squares, etc).
Betty - you used to make Thread Catchers, didn't you? Do they all have pin cushons and are they usually filled with crushed walnuts? I'd never heard of such a thing, but thought I'd give all my students a gift of a thread catcher. It looks more complicated than I thought it would be. I only expect 4 or 5 students, because the Silver Willow hall doesn't have all that many plug ins for sewing machine & irons. It has lots of tables to use, so that's good, andit's quite spacious for this type of class with only 5 students.

Goid luck shopping Pat.

Susan, best of luck with your quilting class. If you don't precut your strips to exact size for each round of the log cabin block, it makes it easier if you square each round after you sew each round. It's easy to get it wonky if you don't precut or square it as you go.
I learned they hard way.

Morning all, school day closing due to freezing rain. Jules who does main plowing just did my driveway with sand,,,never sanded before but guess he is treating me.

Pat and June won’t make it this week, shouldn’t be out anyway if there is ice covering the yard, I now have the entire day to finish those gnomes, taking longer than normal seeing I am trying to simplify for the kids..

Sounds like quite the store Pat, hope you find a lot of goodies in your future visits. Bet the machine fixer elf was there last night all all ok for sewing this morning.

Susan i did make a lovelyscrap -pincushion pieces..when I go downstairs I will try to write out instructions and notes for you.

Lindakay, condolences to Judy for her loss..she was very close to her sisters, wish she was still on DG, sure miss her.

Deb and Dianne, how are you doing, Missing the freezing rain i hope.

Sharon, losing any of your pretties with this cold.

Must sent message to Liz see how she is doing with California doing so badly.

Can't wait to see photos of your gnomes Betty.
Supposed to be 85 here today.

48 here today already. Going for another infusion today. About to call a halt to them, they are not helping at all and are expensive. Tired of needles.

Great weather you guys, freezing rain now turning to rain, am sure later it will be snow

Karen,oh Lordy, did not realize you had to pay for your infusions..when you get them they do make you feel better though.. know I complain about my appointments but if I were really sick I’d me in emerge and nothing they would do to me I’d have to pay for, sure hope there is an alternative for infusions.

Ok Pat, how did the midnight fairies do?

The gnomes are primitive Lindakay seeing I’m working with kids from about 6-12.
Sweating and coughing a tad, sniffles the worse so I’ve been sitting here putting gnome kits together but have found a few things missing so once I get them I’ll leave those pieces in separate bags..i must remind the kids to ONLY take out what I say or there will be pieces scattered all over.

Won’t be using fur Lindakay, mop head strands unravelled being used, all the old alleys I’ve been saving that i don’t use will be the weight plus batting filler. Bought hearts they need to be painted as they will be the feet

I’ve been looking at the love valentines throw..I’ve so many squares cut out, this one I did as I went along and all depending on what i have 8n my scraps will be how it t7rns out.

Guess I will have a nap, then see what energy I have left..i vacuumed, cleaned a closet, scrubbed the zinc, shouldn’t be tired out but am.

Linda Kay - lol I know ALL about squaring up each piece!!! It's the most important part of the sewing/cutting to ake things fit !! That, and ironing between each sewing & squaring.
Betty - if you could find the thread catcher pattern, that would be great, thank you..

Linda Kay - lol I know ALL about squaring up each piece!!! It's the most important part of the sewing/cutting to ake things fit !! That, and ironing between each sewing & squaring.
Betty - if you could find the thread catcher pattern, that would be great, thank you..

Freezing rain here. I sent my cleaning lady home early. She wanted to stay and finish but I told her she would end up having to stay overnight. I don't mind and she loves the TH. She had Rottis at 1 point.

Betty can you take a photo of the directions with your cell then pass it on ?

The weather report on my laptop says it's 63*F and sunny. Oh how I wish !!

Let us know how Liz is doing please.

I've been awake since 2:30 am so I think I might have a nap.

Stay safe everyone. Betty do not venture out !!

Betty, sounds like you need to take a covid test before the kids show up. There is Aldo a virus going around. rsv Or something like that, it is highly contagious. Be careful please.
Betty, u.s. patients don't get anything fir free.
Last year when Todd got his infusions, each one cost us almost $300.00. That's our co pay after insurance. Todd's month in the hospital was over $400,000.00. So far we have paid $4,000.00 for co pay.

We have Blue Care Medicare Advantage for insurance. It's pretty good my co-pay is just $110. but it adds up. I did talk to financial office today and she is pretty sure I qualify for full coverage so I will have no costs for anything connected with my oncologist office. She is sending me paperwork.

Linda you might look into financial assistance. They are very willing to provide it.

We have already tried. We don't qualify, because we have medicare and insurance through the base, where we worked.

Ours is based on income. I never worked enough to qualify for Social Security on my own. (Was stay at home mom and the grandma). Last few years Walt was running the shop, I managed the office for him.
My Soc. Sec. is based on his so I don't get much. Tough on the day to day but it does help with getting medical covered.
I'm going to do the paper work but honestly, I'm about to stop getting the infusions. They aren't doing any good. They keep giving me iron and I take a daily iron suppliment but my iron stays in the too low range. It's just too much any more.

Karen, I am sorry that the infusions do not seem to be helping. They used to, didn't they?

Not only did the sewing machine fairy not show up, neither did the sleep fairy! It was 2AM when I gave up and sat in recliner reading until 3AM and then got some sleep until 7.30.. I spent the day at Marie's and came home with her spare sewing machine.

I did really well at the store. I got 10 packages of stuffed animals with a story book with each. A few puzzles, 2 boxes of BIG Hot Wheel cars, 4 boxes of Hickory Farms samplers, good gloves, fleece pants & a gingerbread house kit, a pair of men's 2x pajamas, and a few other things. Tomorrow I will go back and see if they still have fleece blankets and will buy all they have. Other than some foil disposable cooking pans, that is all I plan on buying. We'll see.

Good morning everyone. I am iced in again. If I am iced in I imagine Betty is too.

I am not even going to try and walk the TH right now. I'll wait until later in the day with fingers crossed we can venture out.

Pat I hate to say this but the sleep fairies found me last night with the help of a RX sleeping pill. Even the dogs slept - I actually woke them up when I got out of bed.

Karen I have the opposite problem with iron in my blood. It is a family problem on my father's side. I have too much of it in my blood and occasionally I have to have blood drawn from my system.

Pat I admire you and your sister's kindness and giving spirit. Any news about when you can access the rest of your house ?

Need to tend the wood stove. I hope to spend a couple of hours tossing blocks of wood around. I need to get the latest bush cord dropped last week into the car port.

No news at all but Adam will be back home later today and I have asked him to schedule some time away from home to talk to me, away from kids and wife. Maybe I can get him to commit to just the 2 of us having dinner, his birthday is Saturday. .

Opps just missed morning, afternoon everyone, had I not though of making a coffee before coming to sit and chat I’d have made morning! It 32 F feels like 24F.

Great idea, if you say it’s for his birthday but she could get nasty not being included.
You are right, you need to have a conversation with him without her.

Cleaning off coffee table, think i need to start having my big meal at 1-2pm then just a treat before bedtime, been getting heartburn and I never get that.

Pretty well done the kits for gnomes, once i finish my break I will clean off coffee table and vacuum, then maybe start something on that kitty..so garage about $35 invested and haven’t put a stitch on needle.

Bent over to scrub my tub (my jar to do, yesterday was my bedroom cupboards) guess even with the brush I used and my standing back started up.

Guess I can knit while Dr, Ho does his thing..

Forgot to add gnome photos for Lindakay


Lindakay, what time is your appointment tomorrow

Pat the blood infusions were very good as far as me feeling better. Iron just doesn't stay with me or make me feel any better.
Had an infusion yesterday and a meltdown. I'm just feeling that nothing is working and no one is listening. I said I didn't ever want to come back. This morning first thing I got a call that they had scheduled me for an EGD and Colonoscopy. I said no. I called back later and left a message that I would have the EGD but not the colonoscopy. That is now scheduled for Wed the 25th after another infusion the 24th. This is the last I'm allowing unless and until I get some answers. They keep setting up appointments with P.As. but none with Dr. I guess he's done unless he gets proof I have the CML. I sure hope the records get to him soon so he can see it. I gave P.A. the info for them to order the records. Maybe they will have better response from records office Than I got.
I know my oncologist and gastroenterologist were the best in northern MI. Guess we should have stayed up there, at least I had two out of four who were good Drs.

One of my big worries is the financial part of it which I talked to the P.A about. She had their financial person call me and when I told her our income, she said she is pretty sure all my care will be covered. It will be a big relief if so. Worry there was a big part of my melt down.

I can’t mentally comprehend how if one doesn’t have big bucks that they are left without care..I’m praying Karen you will hear that all is paid for. Not a wonder sweetie you had a meltdown. Hugs

Had a friend pass away, Eric and Roger spent a lot of time boating, he was younger so ended up befriending my boys, all big time boaters. Sent messages to my boys.
Sure hits home, seems every week there are friends passing.

Ziggy is so comfy next to me I hate to get up to make toast and honey and a hot chocolate to finish off my day.

Forgot photo’s again