Groundhog Day

It's official.

You-know-who has forecast 6 more weeks of winter. 

It's been cold off and on down here in West Central Florida, but that only serves to give us a few days to wear those clothes with the layered look that we like.  Today it is forecast to be sunny and back up to 76 degrees.  Not bad!

But last weekend was still cold and I kept inside to finish this quilt top from long ago.

It had been buried in the to-be-quilted basket for way too long.  One of my Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild members put it together at their Lake Tahoe retreat that I couldn't attend.  My contribution was quilting some of the 100+ tops that they made.  This is the last one to be finished.  It has such cute prints - they were looking at me while I quilted!

Today I'm working on a cat applique to add to a jelly roll top that I thought needed a little something to perk it up.  This is what I have so far:

Brrr! This is Florida?

We can’t believe that we’re still downright chilly - way down south as we are …

 

This is the time of year when it’s supposed to be warming up, not getting colder!  Maybe by this weekend.  But looking at other parts of the country, I'm certainly not complaining (much...).

We had a fun birthday lunch for a friend yesterday and I can now show the tote bag that I have been working on.

 

I especially liked the colors and I think my friend liked them, too.  I used a pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs, but if I were to make another one, I think I would lengthen the straps a great deal.  And not put so many pockets in, since it's a tote not a purse.  So now I fancy myself a designer, right?!!

My Attic Windows are progressing nicely and actually starting to look like windows:

 

Here’s a closeup of the robot fabric:

 

Too cute!

Beating the Heat

While I have been avoiding exercising outside in our horrific heat and humidity, I have been sewing.  Here is a little top that I have been working up with the world’s easiest quilt block, called the Snowball (ok – it also just sounded refreshing!):

It is sewn together now and I should be done adding the blue borders on it later today.

And I should warn you NOT, I repeat, NOT to browse food blogs while avoiding the heat.  One of my charity group’s members had this very excellent Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake featured:

And since she credited The Noble Pig blog for the recipe, I had to take a look over there and found this also very excellent Panzella (Bread Salad) recipe for fresh vegetables: 

Thank You! to The Noble Pig in Oregon

Do you get the idea that I’m either very hungry or easily suggestable?

Maybe both?

We’re actually having homemade pizza tonight, but I’m marking these two recipes, for sure!

Tropical Storm Debby

An aquifer is a layer of sand or underground rock that stores water.  Since the water is constantly moving, it can fill spaces as small as between the grains of sand or as large as caves.  The thick layers of dolomite and limestone that underlie Florida are easily corroded by the weak acid found in rainwater so many cracks and crevices are created.  And that leaves Florida on top of one big aquifer (as are parts of AL, GA and SC).

Even though we had a lot of rain in early June, it had been pretty dry for an extended period before that and when that happens, rock dissolves and can result in collapse of the layers of ground above it creating a sinkhole.  These can be devastating as shown in this photo:

So why am I glad that Tropical Storm Debby has kept us inside and going stir-crazy for a few days?  Because the rain has been steady.  In light rainfalls, the majority of the water is returned to the sky through evaporation from surfaces and transpiration from plants.  It takes a lot of water to replenish the aquifer and a tropical storm provides just that.  Of course, flooding and high winds often accompany these storms so precautions must be taken, but seasonal rainfall is a good thing if 95% of your drinking water comes from an aquifer.  My area has done ok in this tropical storm – the ponds are full, some street flooding in low-lying areas, the rivers may crest high but not too badly, a few trees knocked over and the Sunshine Skyway bridge has been closed for two days from high winds – but mainly we’re ok.  North Florida will get hit harder as the storm stalls off the Gulf Coast and may see up to 25 inches of rain (we've probably had about 10 inches).

So we have been staying inside and I have been sewing.  I’ve almost completed Step 3 of the Quilts of Valor Mystery (the mystery just deepens!).

sorry about the photo color - Debby has it fairly dark outside!

I’ve started another QOV using the scrap triangles from my QOV groups’ blocks and I’m still auditioning ideas for what I’m going to do with this center block in a Round Robin.  Just keepin’ busy!

QOV Update

I met with my Quilt of Valor group yesterday and took my finished top.  When I took the close-up picture, I forgot to get the detail of the inner border.  It was a bugga-boo to put on.  The fabric was originally rows of the letters *USA* separated by stars in a square.  The volunteers had already cut it apart when I received it, so I had to be careful when sewing it on so that I didn’t cut off the tops and bottoms of the letters (not a full 1/4 inch available).  But first, I had to piece the borders in such a way that the integrity of the letters was maintained (no mitering like I normally would do).  Then I kept trying to fit the border so that nothing was cutoff.  I finally gave up and let the ends at two corners read *US*.  Best I could do!

Bonnie Hunter Pattern - Fourth of July

Now that I am more familiar with the pattern (I printed off my own copy from Bonnie's website - she gives blanket permission to do that), I know that many of the squares are not turned properly.  My next one will be much better!  Other members brought back finished tops, too, so the group now has 5 tops at the long-arm quilters (volunteers).  Our next meeting will be spent making up lots more kits that can be signed out and brought back.

Another top ready for borders

And yet ANOTHER top having borders sewn on

And yes, we went out to lunch again, and I readily admit to succumbing to the allure of the raisin toast.  I had tomato rice soup and the toast and both were wonderful!

Now I’m planning on a lazy weekend.  The weather has been so great here that I just want to get outdoors and piddle around – no heavy weed pulling, no extreme walks, just leisurely enjoying the balmy temperature while it lasts.  My azaleas and day lilies are blooming and my lone orchid has a new stalk.  I was so excited to see it since I was pretty sure I had brown-thumbed the poor plant to death.  But apparently, it is happy, so I fed it and we’ll see if it makes it to flowering!

The stalk coming out at the top left is the flower starting to form -
 I'll hitch it to the green stake when it gets a little longer

Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day has its roots in Candlemas Day in Europe when early Christian clergy blessed candles and distributed them to people in the dark of Winter.  An old English saying had it that if Candlemas was fair and bright then Winter had another flight, but if Candlemas brought clouds and rain, then Winter would not come again.

Here in the US, the Delaware Indians had settled in an encampment known as Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh).  For the Delaware, groundhogs were honorable ancestors and they watched for them to see their shadow to predict the continuation of Winter.  The Germans had watched for a badger to predict the same and brought their traditions to America.  The two rituals have blended together into our modern day event of Groundhog Day.

The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day comes from 1841 and is taken from a Morgantown storekeeper’s diary.  James Morris’ diary can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College.  Morris says:

            “Last Tuesday, the 2^nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy re remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”

So, today Punxsutawney Phil, as he is affectionately known, did see his shadow, so unfortunately, there will not be an early Spring.  On the plus side, Phil has only a 39% track record of being correct.  To read more about Groundhog Day or to know more about the making of the movie “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray, go to http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm

Here in my sewing room, it is pleasant and bright.  I am working on a Quilt of Valor.  Today, I will be putting on an inner and outer border then I’ll turn it in at the group’s meeting tomorrow.

the tags on the left are row numbers so I could keep them in order!

Let's Talk Weather and WIP

Just check out this weather forecast and see why some of us in Florida are putting on every wool item that we own!  I even wore my earmuffs when I went for my walk this afternoon (I hate when my ears get cold – and it was only 46^◦ out there!).

Outlook

8 PM	9 PM	10 PM	11 PM
Clear	Clear	Clear	Clear
37°	34°	32°	31°
0%	0%	0%	0%
Wind: 4 NNW	Wind: 3 N	Wind: 3 N	Wind: 3 N

For my Celsius friends, 37° = about 3° Celsius, and 32° = 0 Celsius - and that's pretty cold! So, I’ll be staying in this evening and continuing with my Lil’ Twister.  It’s coming along nicely – especially because I remembered to put the border on before I started cutting – LOL!  This is my progress:

Starter Squares

Beginning to Cut

These will make up a scrappy border

Twisters in Progress

The light blue border has multi-colored numbers in it and I'm keeping an eye out for an outside border that will also be kid-friendly.

Sunday's Project

Just look at this fantastic weather!

This past weekend was supposed to be great – lower temperatures and considerably lower humidity than our usual 89%.  I was finally inspired to tackle that small job in the kitchen that has been bugging me since last April.

We had our appliances replaced after our dishwasher leaked and destroyed an end panel.  Since we are NOT handy-people, we hired a handyman to replace that panel.  He did a great job and while he was here I asked him to change out the middle piece in a cabinet.  It used to open like this:

That middle piece was attached to one side and was always flipping open the other side when I grabbed it.  The design was fine if you wanted to have a large opening for huge platters or pots, but I didn’t need both the high and low cabinets to have this design.  I wanted that piece to be free-standing in the lower cabinet – like this:

He did a great job on that, too, but I had to stain it to match the other cabinets – then the foot dragging started.  It’s usually so humid here that paint/stain takes much longer to dry.  I do have a dehumidifier, but I would have to drag it out and dust it off, etc, etc (the tiny violins start playing now).

I finally did that and it took all of 15 minutes to finish the project (including the finding and dragging out of the supplies that I bought back in April).  I think it looks just fine.

I also put a wooden crate that I had painted last fall in front of the dehumidifier … it never has dried correctly.

I had thought it would be great to store fat quarters and it really is.  It’s just that the drawers stick and you have to leave one extended a little in order to give it a whack to get it unstuck.  Now it’s nice and dry (finally!).  Two projects down … at least ten thousand to go …  Maybe later!

This is a small quilt that I had experimented on when I was trying out ways to machine quilt bindings.  It’s the Broken Dishes pattern.

Each side has a different stitch (blanket stitch, zig zag, & 2 decoratives) – I ended up not liking any of them.  I thought it was too weird to donate, but now I’m rethinking that. 

The comic bug print is for a younger child and I think it would be worn out before they would notice the different stitches!

So it’s going in the box to WTIL that is growing again.

Wrapping Up Loose Ends

Just wrapping up a few loose ends.  I had put the borders on the Trail to Treadleonia top and I think it contains the “wildness” nicely.

I then made up the lottery blocks that I had pledged for this month in the Mailblocks swap group.  There are actually five, but two are the same orange fabric.  I liked how this Maple Leaf block from the Quilter’s Cache turned out … I can’t remember making it before.  I wouldn’t mind winning the blocks this month (it’s winner take all)!

That’s it for another rainy day.  Our cable was knocked out all over the county last night – another huge electrical storm.  We had no internet and no cable TV channels for most of the day.  We sure are tired of it.  I think we’ve had more than our share this summer.  Oh well, time to think about dinner anyway!

Lottery Blocks and Thunder

My on-line group, Sunshine Quilt Guild, focuses on making donation quilts for children and we also have a monthly block lottery.  Participants make blocks in sets of two (or more) – one block goes to make a Sunshine Quilt by a member that volunteers to do that and one goes into the *pot* for that month’s winner – the pot is winner-take-all.  The theme for this month is *novelties* - and that’s my favorite month!

I’ve been making these half-log cabin blocks:



Detail of Novelty Fabrics



But I had to stop because of another thunderstorm.  I always unplug my machines during lightning.  Hopefully, it will end soon.

This is a photo that I took yesterday of a nearby field that is usually dry.  The dark area near the egret is not a shadow, it’s standing water that the egret intends to fish in.  Good luck with that, little birdie … I'm betting you'll find lots of bugs, lizards and froggies that will be pretty tasty!

Post Office Mishap

I was going to mail my package of NICU quilts out yesterday, but after hearing the news I waited until today.  Unfortunately, some poor woman starting to park right in front of the big glass windows and doors of my local post office apparently blacked out with her foot on the gas pedal, and smashed the place up.

She drove thru the front doors and thru the dividing wall between the front lobby and the back work area - the car didn't stop until it hit the back wall.  Fortunately, all 17 of the postal workers avoided injury and the woman was taken to the hospital with only minor injuries (no customers were injured).

NOT a drive-thru P.O.

I've always had the best of luck with this post office - the people are friendly, the service is fast and my packages always arrive at their destinations quickly.  I'm so glad they are all ok.  When I went today, everything was boarded up nicely, and it was business-as-usual inside.  And you can ignore that part on the sign above that says to "Use the APC" - she took that poor machine flat out!

It rained today for all of 15 minutes.  It blanketed the area we're in, but at least the plants got to get their toes wet.  We're hoping for more rain tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I worked on another NICU quilt (I'm on a roll, I can't stop now).  Here's a sneak preview:

More tomorrow.