KATHY'S FANCY STITCHING NEWS



Postings and ponderings of a quilting and knitting addict!





Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Powerful Storms!

Early this morning, very powerful thunderstorms moved through the area.  We managed just fine, with only a few trees in our woods being broken off or uprooted.  I received  a call from my sister around 9AM this morning that my mom’s house sustained heavy damage.

I cooked lunch to take over for those helping, and here is what I found when I arrived around noon…103_0072

The storm blew the roof off Pop’s shop building.  The roof smashed into the back of the house and…

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gave a little extra ventilation in the breakfast room.  It also…

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Smashed into their chimney, breaking  it off and sending it crashing through the roof into the living room!  Wiring, duct work, and piles of wet insulation covered the living room.  There was a HUGE hole in the roof.  Rafters were broken and falling, sheetrock was crumpled, light switches were yanked out of the walls…  They had lots of water damage.  I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what water does to laminate flooring!!

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See the mantle in the above picture?  There was a hurricane oil lamp sitting on that mantle… it was perfectly intact.  Lots of things were spared, but it was a huge mess. 

Remember the quilt I gave her for Christmas 2009?  The one that had those color runs??  I thought I had that problem SOLVED… HAHA!  It was on the couch in the living room and got very wet.  It sat there for a while before they could get to it, and there are black color runs!  I brought it home for washing and we will see…. if they come out, fine.  If not, it will be a souvenir of the storm.

My brothers helped put boards to reinforce where needed, and tarps to help protect from further damage.

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See the hump in the above picture?  That is where the chimney is SUPPOSED to be!

Freezers and refrigerators had to be dealt with because the house was deemed uninhabitable by the insurance agent.  It will be a while before they have power restored in the area, and even then, they won’t have power in the house until repairs are made.  They will have to stay in a hotel until the work is done.

This has been a very busy and trying day, but we are so thankful that Mom and Pop were fine.  Things can be repaired/replaced, but they are priceless!!

There were lots of downed trees in the town of Robeline and the surrounding area.  I have not heard any reports of injuries or fatalities, so despite the damage we were very blessed.  I am so thankful today that lives were spared for my family and others in the midst of the storm!

KAT

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Excuses, Excuses…

Top 10 excuses for not blogging this week…


10. I am too pooped out after quilt retreat.


9. I was a bad blogger and took no pictures at quilt retreat. Now I am too embarrassed to mention retreat because I know someone will say, “Where are the pictures?”


8. Jeremy’s quilt is MADE, but it is so big I can’t get a good picture of it, so I haven’t posted.


7. A new quilt was started, but it is not one of my UFOs so I’m keeping it under wraps for now. I’ll let the cat out of the bag soon.


6. Easter preparations are under way… Today I am making cornbread for the dressing (8 packs of cornbread). I will take that to mom tomorrow and she will make the dressing for our Sunday family get-together. There will be about 30 of us there… it takes a BUNCH of dressing!


5. Easter preparations are under way part II… I also have to take a cake. I have no idea WHAT kind of cake to take. Today I will pour over recipes to see if something strikes my fancy. Jenn suggested pineapple-coconut, my favorite. But there are some people in my family that don’t like coconut, so I really need to take something else. Of course, there are some people in my family that don’t like chocolate… I am ignoring those ridiculous folks and will probably take chocolate cake of some sorts simply because it goes so well with coffee after a meal.


4. Quilts are POURING in the door. I prayed for more business, and things have REALLY picked up!


3. I have 2 HUGE custom quilts (I just told DH I was NOT doing any more custom… never say “Never” or “Not”. Didn’t I just post about that a few times ago? Obviously I did NOT (oops… there is THAT word again!) learn from that mistake!


2. Both custom quilts have very pressing deadlines, and my brain just is not flowing on what to quilt on one of them… the one with the MOST pressing deadline.


And, the number 1 excuse for not blogging is…


1. I’m a blogging slacker. I’ll admit it. THERE, I said it. Glad that is out in the open, you all know it, and now you won’t be expecting any posts from me and will be greatly excited when I do actually get a post up.


Have a great week and a wonderfully blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday! HE IS ALIVE!


KAT

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Another Gussie Saga

 

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I think Gussie Fay has been hanging out at the lake camp because…

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The Gammill technician I called has determined that she is “LOOSE”!  Technically that means that she coasts to a stop when I hit the stop button, rather than stopping the needle immediately.  That also means that her gears are loose and need to be tightened.

SOOOOOO…. tonight we will load Gussie in the car and very early in the morning I will head to Vicksburg, MS to drop her off at the Gammill dealer.  I guess you could say Gussie is going on a retreat, too!  She will stay there until I finish quilt retreat on Thursday and go back to get her.

The repair isn’t something urgent, but since I was going that way anyway it will be most convenient to go ahead and take her in.

Taking “Inetta” off of Gussie was interesting.  I took lots of pictures of how the pieces fit together and marked things with painters tape.  A few scribbled notes will also be helpful I hope.

Retreat agenda is made…

1.  Finish piecing Jeremy’s quilt.  This should be doable on the first day I am there.

2.  Start a new quilt.  Yes, that is what I said.  I have some fat quarter bundles that are demanding that I use them, and my SIL found a really neat pattern that will go well with them.  It certainly won’t get finished because I only have 3 of the 6 part directions. 

3.  If I have extra time (which I doubt will happen) I will work on knitting socks.

I am hauling everything but the kitchen sink.  You know you ALWAYS need something you left at home and I don’t want to be the one that left it!

So, farewell, quilting friends, until I return with stories to tell of the fun things the Cotton Country Quilters of Bastrop, LA have been up to.  I am so glad they decided to “keep” me after I moved away.

I’ll “see” you sometime next weekend.

KAT

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Remember that Olive Salad?

Do you remember the olive salad that was a gift from my niece in New Orleans?  Nancy asked what we would do with it…  MAKE MUFFULETTAS! 

If you want the traditional sandwich you need ham, mortadella (bologna), hard salami, provolone and mozzarella cheeses, and French bread or round muffuletta bread. 

Go HERE for the traditional recipe

I used what I had for our lunch yesterday… left-over seeded hamburger buns, cheddar cheese, smoked turkey sandwich meat, and one slice of chopped, cooked bacon leftover from breakfast. 

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Place the meat and cheese on the bun and toast in the oven until the cheese is melted and the meat is warm.

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Drain the oil from the olive salad and pile it on!  We like lots of it.  This makes a yummy sandwich.  We don’t do these very often because they are loaded with salt and fat, so we really enjoy them when we decide to splurge.

YUMMO! 

Kat

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The Adventures of “Flat Debbie”

Subtitle:  What we did at SIL Retreat.

It was loads of fun!  Since the REAL Debbie was not going to be able to attend we decided to let “Flat Debbie” join in our fun!100_3024

Our retreat location is noted for having some “interesting” people hanging around!  This weekend it was just a few quilters with goals of sewing, visiting, and eating all 3 days.

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Flat Debbie did not waste any time getting settled in.  “AHHH, this bed is so soft!!”

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Remember I told you I was doing some crafting last week?  I created 4 collapsible trash boxes and shared them with my SILs. Flat Debbie really did like these.

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SURPRISE!  REAL Debbie DID show up for supper and a little quilting on the first night.

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Friday morning we headed to Hemphill, TX.  Flat Debbie rode “shotgun”.  That gal must REALLY like ironing!  She carried that iron everywhere she went this weekend!

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Our destination was Cedar Tree Nest Quilt Shop. 

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Lots of LOVELY stuff there!  Flat Debbie had a great time browsing for fabric.  She did not buy anything, but Mary Anne and I did.

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Flat Debbie is admiring my purchases… the blue fabric is for binding on the hand-quilted customer quilt I am working on.  The batik swirl is for a batik wonky-house quilt I want to make.  This will make fabulous borders.

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Let’s eat!  Hemphill Bar-B-Q was wonderful!  I forgot to take a picture of Flat Debbie eating.  I don’t think she had much of an appetite, but M.A. and I wasted no time in gobbling down the BBQ sandwich plate we each got.

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Flat Debbie really enjoyed this backdrop!

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As soon as we got back to the camp it was coffee time.  I shared my coffee and treat with Flat Debbie.  Thankfully she is not a heavy drinker, because after staying up late the night before I needed every drop of that caffeine!  Afterwards we both got really busy.  M.A. and I sewed all Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday.  We got so much done!

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Above is M.A.’s sailboat quilt made using a jelly roll plus a few other fabrics.  SOOOO cute!  Start to finish, she got the whole thing done at retreat!  I am sorry there are no pictures of M.A.  She declined all photo ops.

I made wonderful progress on Jeremy’s quilt.  I am almost done putting the body of the quilt together.  I will get this finished next week when I go to another quilt retreat.  I’ll show you pics next week.

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SURPRISE!  My niece Salinda joined us for Saturday!  She had a great visit with Flat Debbie.  This young lady used the “never” word once, and it caught up with her.  It was something to the effect of, “I will never be a quilter.”

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HMMMMMM!  This looks a lot like a quilt to me, Salinda!!  She had the borders finished and it was ready for quilting by early afternoon.  Way to go, Salinda!!

We really missed the real Debbie, but we were glad to have Flat Debbie accompany us.  Hopefully next time the REAL DEAL DEBBIE will be able to come.  Next time?  Yes, we are already looking at our calendars to see if we can fit another SIL Retreat in soon.

Be blessed!

KAT

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