Happy Autumn and Quiltathon Results

My calendar says Autumn begins today. Happy Autumn. Since I haven't finished everything I wanted to do for spring and summer, I have my work cut out for me. I've made a list, and hopefully today I can get more productive. If I can get off the computer, that is.

I have been quilting this weekend, because Judy said we had to. It's Quiltathon time. What did I do? I cut up lots of fabric and sewed them together, of course. Isn't that what quilters do? I went through my scrap basket and cut up some squares from quilts I have made before. I found all sorts of lovely blue fabric - from the kaleidoscope quilt, my niece's quilt, the Evening Stars, the story maze quilt, the Japanese quilt, the denim circles quilt.

I've made a lot of cutting mistakes on this quilt, so I trimmed one eighth inch off of all my squares. Fun times. I have enough fabric to cut all new squares (for several quilts), but then I would have to figure out what to do with this size square, and I would rather try to reduce scraps. And to think, there was a time when I was envious of scraps and wanted to make some.


I am glad I didn't tell you last week that I had finished with the outside star points. I was almost done with all of my little flying geese when I realized that I had added dark squares to the sides of the big flying geese when I needed light squares. It wasn't that much of a problem to rip them out, since it was something I could do while I was watching tv, and I need that size square for another part of the quilt, so it isn't wasting much.

Two steps forward, one step back. I'm not sure why I am making so many mistakes in this quilt. I think it all leads to not paying attention to the directions as much as I usually do. I've been spoiled by step by step directions. Even though I understand the directions in this quilt, everything leads to the picture and I think I know what it looks like, and don't bother to look at it as often as I should.

Eventually this quilt will get finished, and hopefully I will have discovered all the errors I want to correct before it is all finished.

Lost and Found

I thought I'd cover up my last dreary post with some good news.

Remember that quote from Pirates of the Caribbean?

lt's an island
that cannot be found ,
except by those
who already know where it is.

Well, I have one of those places in my house, where I put Important Papers. This is a separate place from ordinary newspapers, offers, papers, bills. These would be bills that need paying right away, big coupons that need to be used right away. It is a very special place so that those Important Papers get acted upon right away. I know where it is - I can locate it right away when I am putting these Important Papers aside temporarily. The problem is, I don't know where it is when I need those Important Papers.

Recently, I have been looking for an absentee ballot. And the $40 coupons for the DTV converter boxes. Very Important Papers that were nowhere to be found. The sad thing is that both of these things are distinctive - the ballot is in a blue envelope and the DTV coupons are like credit cards and are bright red. They should be easy to find, if I hadn't put them in that Important Papers place.

I finally gave up on the absentee ballot, and found the form online, so that part is done. After frantically searching for two months for those DTV coupons, (you have to use them within 90 days of requesting them), I finally thought to ask my sister. Apparently I had taken them with me one day when I went out shopping with her and I left them in her car. Phew!

I went to Walmart because I am a cheapskate and proud of it. You'll be happy to know that I am now ready for the digital age. Of course, I wound up buying extra stuff I didn't need, but really wanted as well.

Financial News

When I wrote about the effects we saw from Hurricane Ike, I figure that all of my readers know that what we had was nothing compared to the real hurricane effects people felt in Texas. We didn't have to board up anything or evacuate, etc.

I was thinking, though, that someday, I might want to print out this blog, maybe even print it out in book form, and if my future family sees it, they might remember the context, or may not understand that Hurricane Ike didn't really come here.

I figure I would throw in a quick post about the current news situation. I should probably put something in here from time to time, instead of one big post.

The historic presidential campaign is going on. John McCain and Sarah Palin are running on the Republican ticket, while Barack Obama and Joe Biden are running on the Democratic ticket.

American soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whenever another country is mentioned on the news - Russia, Pakistan, etc., it makes me worry that soldiers will be sent there as well.

Many companies are downsizing or going bankrupt. Even big ones.

Many homes are in foreclosure, mostly due to variable rate mortgages and lax due diligence on the part of banks and mortgage companies. Many homeowners decided that when the price of their home dropped and they couldn't refinance their loan, that it was better to walk away instead of carry the debt, leaving their credit rating in ruins. This left many banks and the entire mortgage industry in crisis.

Insurance companies are having problems on two fronts - first they have had losses due to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Ike. They are also having trouble with the investments they bought.

The US government decided to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (quasi-government agencies that buy mortgages). This week they decided to help AIG (insurance company), and will print more money in order to do so.

There are many middle class people who have stayed away from the bad mortgage loans, and have been trying to save money for their childrens' college education and their own retirements. Stock brokers and financial "experts" have been touting a 10% historical return in stocks, and have encouraged people to buy and stay in the stock market. The stock market is tumbling. And as more and more people get more and more worried, they will sell more of their stock and the tumble will continue. This is about the time when the baby boomers are coming into retirement age and will need to withdraw the money they have been saving up. A stock market downturn was expected, but not this much, and this early.

The US government is working on a bigger plan to help even more. This quote from today's news feeds straight into my fears.

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd, D-Conn., warned on Friday that the United States could be "days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system" and said Congress would work quickly to prevent that.

I have worked in the financial services industry. I wish I could think through all these things and figure out what will be next, but it is too complicated for me. I get asked what people should do with their stocks, and I don't know what to tell them. I know that the stocks will continue to go down, and eventually they will go back up again. But when and by how much, I don't know. I also don't know how much of what I know is the sales pitch I have bought into, and I don't know whether the middle class will trust the stock market after this. And I don't know how the government intervention will factor into all this.

Hurricane Ike

Since G'Owens On Round Here took the time to show you storm pictures, I thought I would do the same for my city. The storm damage has been pretty much cleaned up around here, and the city has been busy picking up all the tree debris. I did manage to get a couple of minor pictures for you today. There were whole uprooted trees, some fell on power lines, etc. These are tiny branches in comparison. We are asked to bundle things up. There were a lot of places still without electricity, and many school districts (not just particular schools) have cancelled classes even for today. Many of them announced very early - yesterday afternoon - that they were closed today, so apparently it has to do with more than just whether the electricity is back on. The only thing I can think of is the planning of the lunches. Maybe they wait to make sure the school can open before ordering lunches. I remember last year they took "snow days" for something other than snow, and they are doing it again so early in the year. It is such a beautiful day out today.


I am out of milk and I am afraid to go to the store to get some. I've been to a local grocery store when the power went out and I know for a fact that they do not have generators to keep their food cold. I would think that all grocery stores in areas where there are lots of trees would have generators as a rule, but apparently they do not. Many grocery stores were closed during the storm. Now I'm sure I will be able to buy milk and other perishables, but I wonder how long it had been sitting in an uncold environment.

I was passing time at the library yesterday before class started (because my classes aren't cancelled), and was browsing the new book section in the childrens' room. A lady was standing beside me looking at the section as well. She turned and started talking to me. It was my sister! When I am at the library, I am looking at books, not at people. I certainly hope that people who know me don't think I am deliberately ignoring them. I tend to do this a lot - not really looking at people - which in a way is a good thing, because people don't want to be stared at or looked at as they too are looking for books and videos, but on the other hand, if I do know them, they are going to feel slighted.

Weekend

One of the things I read besides the stuff mentioned in the last post is the cover of an Oprah magazine - the one that talked about a mother driving two hours to do her son's laundry. I only read the cover, you understand, because I'm pretty sure it was something that was not recommended. Parents need to give their kids a chance to grow up, yada yada.

Oprah, you don't understand. It isn't about doing laundry. It is about reconnecting with the kid, bonding, etc. Yep I brought my daughter home this weekend. But she did her own laundry, and mine too! and filled the sugar shaker. It was nice knowing she was in the house as I went about my day. It was really windy when I dropped her back off at the school, and it got much windier as the day went on.

This has been a strange year, because I don't remember getting wind storms before. Trees topple, and the electricity goes out, but there is no thunder and lightening. I watched the storm for a while. The birds were staying low, and the robins were actually eating the pyracantha berries. I showed you a picture of them in a previous post. Have you seen the thorns on those bushes? Those are killer thorns. They did deep. Then I had dinner (I have a gas stove), read by candle light and flashlight a little bit and then went to bed. This year we have had several of those storms. Lots of people still don't have electricity and lots of places are closed today.

Reading

I had the day off Friday, so I made big plans. I thought I could buy some paint and paint the garage door. Or I could clean - I hear people do that. Since the house had been cleaned for the party, it wouldn't take very long to bring it back into shape. Apparently, not only am I allergic to dust and therefore cleaning, I am also allergic to thinking about cleaning. I had a serious allergy attack on Friday. My eyes were watering so I couldn't see much, and I sneezed a million times. When I went to bed that night, my jaw and my stomach hurt so much from all that sneezing that I couldn't sleep.

The next day I felt hung over from the medication, but the allergies were gone. No more thinking about cleaning. So in the meantime, I read a library book by Parnell Hall. It is a very quick read about a little old lady who solves mysteries and has crossword puzzles written in her name. She is a chain smoker who has been married many times. It isn't high brow reading, but fit the bill exactly for someone who couldn't concentrate very well. The book is all mostly dialogue, so you don't have to read a lot of descriptions. He repeat the clues from time to time, and help you remember who all the characters are, without being condescending.

I recommend it. This is apparently the ninth book in the series. I have reserved the other books in the series to see how they are, read one, and it is similar in style - just a different murder. The rest of them are about crossword puzzles and not sudoku, but since I enjoy sudoku, and not crossword puzzles, it was more likely to reel me in.

Also I read a Good Housekeeping article (September) which reminded me of the mindful eating that Carol has been talking about. I agree - you have to enjoy and savor your food. Otherwise, I think I wind up saying, hey that was good, and get a second serving just to savor it!

On the quilting front, I did finish the light stars. Yeah! Now I have to start on the dark ones.

Temptation

The no waste method of making flying geese is working wonderfully, and I am enjoying quilting again. Hopefully this means you won't have to hear any more whining for a while, at least until it gets to be time to quilt this baby. I'll probably be tacking it by hand, because there is no way I am going to try to stuff a queen size quilt into my sewing machine.

Now that things are going smoothly and I am enjoying the process, my thoughts have been wandering. I am not planning a new quilt anytime soon, at least until this one and another one is finished. I promised Finn, after all. And that's my rule - two finishes for every start.

Then I started thinking about people who haven't received quilts from me. My brother in law is the only one in the family who hasn't received anything from me, and maybe he is feeling left out. And there is that baby that was born this summer. I was going to buy her a gift but my daughter said, why don't you make her a quilt? My excuse was that it was too hot in the summer for a quilt, but now that it is getting cooler ... Hopefully I can finish up one of my UFOs and give that to her as a gift.

And then there are all these lovely quilts I keep seeing when I read my bloglines. Some of them are so tempting, especially the little projects.

I am going to try very hard to keep focused on finishing this quilt before I start anything else, but I'm not making any promises!