2nd quilt is finished

I finished another quilt. It's a baby sized one. I did line dancing because the owner wanted very light quilting on it. The owner is a good friend that I told I would continue to do her quilts. If I remember right her husband is a doctor and she makes cuddle quilts for babies at the hospital where he works. I could be wrong though so I guess I'll ask her when she picks this one up.



Here's a look at the back.

A close up of the blocks.

It didn't take long to finish that quilt but my batting order hasn't arrived so I can't do the next quilt. I decided it's high time I did the annual cleaning of my machine. This is more than the weekly and monthly cleaning I do. This calls for the special equipment. A toothbrush for cleaning the teeth along the table. Q-tips for cleaning the machine itself very thoroughly. Wax for cleaning the rails and wheels.

I didn't quite get it all finished before it was time for Ladybug and Mommie to get home. I still need to remove the leaders and wash them. I also need to check all the oil spots to be sure they are clean. I can finish the annual cleaning this morning. Hopefully my batting order will arrive by the time I get the machine cleaning finished.

A word of caution about fabrics

Before I talk about the fabrics, here's how I froze my peppers. I spread them out on a cookie sheet that I keep in my freezer. That way it's cold when I add the foods. It gives them a head start on flash freezing.






You see the liner? This is a bag from a cereal box. Nothing sticks to it. It's better than parchment paper. I can wash it to use over and over again. When the food is frozen I simply roll it up and use it like a funnel to pour the food into a freezer bag.

Here's an example of what happens when you buy "cheap, cheap" fabric and don't know it's content. My SIL bought this fabric on the discount table. I'm all for getting a discount table bargain but sometimes it backfires. She spent the time to cut the pieces for her quilt. I thought there might be a problem so I pressed it.

Instant shrinkage!

Why do I show this? Well, if you ever piece a block that is supposed to be one size but find it has become a smaller size.... this might be the reason.

I think the economy is causing manufacturers to "stretch" the threads out when creating yardage. Fewer threads spread out in the same width so it appears you are getting what you have always bought. You might call it "spreading the threads" too. In the food industry this is called short sizing. Stretching is the fabric equivalent to putting a dimple in the bottom of a container.

One way to check to see if a fabric has been stretched is to see how thin it is. If you can see through it like this then it's either a gauze fabric or else its stretched.

Not only are prices getting higher and higher but manufacturers are getting even more of our money by giving us less in the same size package. Consumers are being hit from both directions. Geeze, when will the short sizing end?!

Down memory lane

Yesterday I happen to be looking through some old magazines while waiting on my SIL. I came across an article in one of them. Hmm... sounded interesting so I started reading it. Gosh, this sounded like something I would say so I looked at the author. Well duh! No wonder it sounded like me. It's from the magazine Unlimited Possibilities back when I often wrote articles for them.



I helped my SIL with her quilts all day yesterday. I started teaching her to piece quilts back in 1995 and she's still a beginner. Actually, she completely baffles me most of the time. She has never bought a quilt book or magazine. She doesn't want to know how to figure yardage. She doesn't get excited by fabrics or threads or new techniques. It's a struggle just to get her to try new ideas. Now matter how many times I explain something to her she deliberately forgets it before the next time. Yes, deliberately, because as she puts it..... "If I do it once then I have to do it all the time." Huh?  Baffles me. So each time she is at my house for a lesson it's like starting from the beginning all over again.

She is the only quilter I know who resists getting a stockpile of quilting related books, gadgets, threads, magazine subscriptions, and so forth. Even a visit to a fabric store doesn't get her interested in looking at anything but fabric. I always want to look around for new gadgets or patterns, but not her. I subscribe to quilt magazines and offer the subscription cards to her. She looks at them and gives them back to me. Not interested.

Her complete quilting stockpile is contained in one bag that she can carry from her house to mine and back. It has her fabrics, a rotary cutter, pins, and pages of whatever pattern I have copied from a book for her.

A person could say that she quilts so we have something in common in order to spend time together but that's not it either. We spend time together when we are not quilting and get along just fine.

I simply can't figure out how a quilter doesn't get excited by new things or want to have lots of quilting stuff around them. Baffling! Simply baffling!

Yes, I AM working

Not much to blog about today. I spent almost all of yesterday weeding through my emails. Geeze, there sure are a lot of them when the computer is gone for several days. After deleting out a ton of junk mail I answered as many personal messages as I had time for. I'll answer a few more tomorrow. Sending an instant email may be faster but the writing takes awhile. The writing takes just as much time as if I sent them by snail mail.

Then I spent a little while checking in on my favorite blogs. Lots to catch up on there. Reading takes time too.

I am working on putting my roses together. I'm always in my studio working by about 3 am. These days I do quiet things so I don't wake up Ladybug and Mommie before 6:30. Piecing or designing is quiet work. I think I should have the roses together by the end of the week and then I'll have to decide on the next steps. I'm not sure what those steps will be. I haven't quite decided on the backgrounds or the quilting.

Today my SIL will be here for me to help her with her quilts. I won't get much done for myself. She requires my full attention. Lots of hand holding and explaining each step of her quilts. Even then, I see her struggling to understand. I think I hear her getting out of the car now. Later.....

Green peppers cost how much? Yikes!

I spent most of yesterday chopping up green peppers.... 






and red, yellow, orange peppers for the freezer.

It may not look like it in the photo but those are large bowls of peppers. About 6 months worth as often as I use them in cooking. It was a deal from the discount bin I just couldn't resist. Have you seen the price of foods lately?

I have to admit my daughter was right. No way I can continue to replenish our food pantry on only $10 per week. Not these days anyway. Each time I go to the grocery it seems like the cost of everything on my list has skyrocketed since the trip a couple of weeks before. Don't get me wrong, I don't buy convenience foods. I'm talking about the cost of staples, fresh veggies, and fresh fruits getting higher and higher.

Peppers sold for about .20 cents each only 3 or 4 years ago. They are selling for between $1 and $1.20 each these days. I got about 30 peppers from the discount bin for $5. That's a big savings. I just happened to get to the store as these were put into the bin. I didn't take all of them because that would be too greedy. I left plenty for other shoppers.

Did I hear the media right? They are reporting the economy is getting better? I don't believe it! So long as my food dollar buys less and less they will never convince me the economy is getting better. You know what? It was a lot easier to be poor when my kids were young. Fewer people depended on the discount bin back then. I could take everything from the bin and no one would care. These days people are snatching and grabbing as soon as discount food is put out. (scary!) This makes me even more determined than ever to have myself a victory garden in the spring. I plan to grow what I can in a very small space. Heck, if I only grew peppers I will save myself quite a bit of money.