On Friday, I received 2 new books! When my husband was alive, we sort of bought our own birthday presents and then said "You gave me this for my birthday!!" It worked every time. Well, this year I ordered two books (even though he is in Heaven now). They are "Sylvia's Bridal Sampler" by Jennifer Chiaverini and "The Farmer's Wife" (picture from Amazon.com) above. The blocks are great but the really bad thing is that you have to print out the patterns from a CD that is included and they print one-per-page. Major bummer, and a terrible waste of paper!! I have been working on the blocks from "The Civil War Diaries" and "Civil War Love Letters" books what seems like forever!! I'm using solid colors instead of prints. There used to be a group of us here on the internet that was working on them, but I think it has fallen by the wayside now. I, too, put them away over the winter, closed up my studio (too COLD to quilt in there) and worked on yarn projects over the winter (mostly something I could cover up with while working on it)! It rained like crazy all night, but the sun is out this morning. Rejoice and be glad!!
I read on another blog that this is National Quilting Day! I had been thinking about quilts all week (just a coincidence, I guess). I even went out to my "studio" yesterday and opened the windows and did some rearranging. Spring is here in NC and my daffodils are blooming and the sun is shining. Who could ask for anything more....well, maybe a local quilt shop would be nice. I sure hate to drive 50 miles to fabric shop. The local walmarts are selling less and less yarn these days, and the stupid pre-cut fabrics at the M.A. store are a joke. (Can you tell I HATE walmart?) I'm going to get busy and get out in the sun today (for tomorrow it is supposed to rain). By the way, I've still not learned to add photos (my son added the photo of Earl Grey in last post). I will learn. Soon. I promise. Enjoy your weekend.
As promised, I am showing a recent photo of Earl, taken yesterday. He was trying to take a nap and I disturbed him! The other photo is of Shizuku-chan, taken awhile back. She is a birthday girl this month and turns 12. She is an odd kitty and loves to have her tummy rubbed. Earl has enough energy for at least two cats and drives poor Chan up the wall sometimes. I have considered bringing in another yard-cat for him to play with, but am a bit hesitant about it. Hope you have a very fun St. Patrick's Day. On this day we are all Irish, eh?
Yesterday, I went to town to pay some bills and when I got back I found that Earl Grey (now six months old) had torn the screen in the bathroom window and escaped!! I walked the property and called for the rest of the day. No Earl. When my son got home from work, we saw Earl's head peeking out from the crawl-space door. He was having fun and didn't want to come in. We tried, unsuccessfully, until dark to get him to come to us. He made a game out of it! Grrrr! We said, "OK, fine, stay outside". It has warmed up a lot this week, so I wasn't worried about him freezing. This morning, as I was feeding the yard cats, Earl comes trotting up the walk-way. He is still not ready to admit defeat, and the yard cats aren't about to share their kibbles. On the second attempt to get a mouthful, I grabbed him, scared the yard cats half to death, and got clawed. But I hung on and I got that little varmint in the house! He ate his breakfast (indoors) and collapsed for a nap in the middle of the living room rug! No new photos, sorry. Still having problems with the photo program. My son has worked on it, but being computer-illiterate, I haven't learned it yet. I will take photos of Earl soon, I promise. I think I'll need lots of coffee to get through this day. (Loud sigh!!)
On Friday, I received my copy of the latest Hayao Miyazaki animated movie, Ponyo. It is adapted from "The Little Mermaid", but is very Japanese. It is truly wonderful!! I always hated the Disney "Mermaid" film, but this one is truly worth having. It is also brought to us by Disney, as they bought the rights to Miyazaki-san's work a few years ago, but what a difference!! I've heard that he is working on his version of "The Borrowers" next. I read that series when I was about 9 or 10. Can't wait for the next one. Enjoy your Sunday.
