Well blogger finally gave up the ghost on google and I had to install Chrome. Hope it works OK.

Are you ready for Christmas? I have been dragging my feet and I guess I am ready. I started taking down the Christmas tree today. Guess the notion has come and gone of decorating the new house. Picked up my Christmas presents this morning. I give chocolate and it is received very well. This year I bought two boxes of sugar free. I will have to see how that does.

Baked sausage balls today, and ate one or two for every pan I baked. Quite full of them and don't think I want another one for a while. That is the end of my Christmas baking for this year. Maybe next year I will do something different.

Merry Christmas

Blogger is still doing strange things........the plumber is back and has starting installing the kitchen side hot water heater. This should be so neat. I have a huge (but not claw foot) tub on that side of the house and I can't wait to fill it with hot water. Once the tub is warm it keeps the water warm. I am also having him put a new shower head in there since I think the one in there is the original. The faucets on the sinks are the original and are impossible to replace (they don't make anything like them anymore) so that is where he will change out the washers to make them work better and not drip. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but I knew all of this coming in, so it is no surprise and I got such a great deal on the house that it is worth it.

I pulled out Christmas decorations and ended up putting up just one tree and I still haven't decorated it. I am going to wait till next year. I plan on going shopping after Christmas to buy some new decorations.

I also starting thinking about replacing the old shades with wood blinds. Shades never want to co-operate when you need them too. And of course, a 1940 era house needs curtains, but I think they are a ways off. All of the windows are odd sizes and I am pretty sure this will have to be a make it myself job and there is way too much to do now. I want light and airy.....

The long arm has been oiled this morning and I am enjoying my hot chocolate as the oil penetrates to where it needs to go. I am quilting a beautiful but very unique T-shirt quilt that my client has made. I believe it is her first one and she has done a great job.

I guess I better go to work now. Have a great day!

Plumbing issues

Blogger seems to be having issues this morning and keeps giving me errors. I may have to go visit Miss Frogquilter for a lesson.

The plumber finally showed up and all the expensive stuff under the house (that I was expecting to have to have him do) is done already. The water pressure is not what it should be coming from the street. But he will be putting in a lot of washers in fixtures to stop small leaks and to make it easier to cut the water off once you cut it on. He will also be installing new instant on hot water heaters, one for each side of the house. I currently have one 60 gallon gas hot water heater and one 40 gallon electric hot water heater. I am heating 100 gallons of water.......geez. I would never use that much water at one time or even during one day. This should drop my SCE&G bill dramatically.

I am going to have to remove the quilt I was playing with on the frame, so I can put a customers quilt on. But first I have to run to West Columbia to pick out a new kitchen faucet and shower head. Yeaaaa!

First Quilt Bee at the new house

I know it has been a while since I posted anything, but I have been really busy. I finally sold the other house. This was a huge leap of faith for me and I am so glad I did it. I love my new home with the largest bedroom to be dedicated as my quilting studio and the long narrow Florida type room with large windows that was made to set a long arm right in the middle of it. Unfortunately there are no lights in this room, so I have purchased two track lights to mount above it. For the studio I have friends coming tomorrow who are not only delivering bookcases for fabric storage, but are staying to help me put them together and fold fabric and start loading them up. This process should empty the living room. My only concern is where to put my project boxes. If I don't finish a project, I put it in a clear styrene box with all the pieces and pattern so that everything will be together when I start back to work on this project. My goal is to finish up some of those projects and not have so many things started at one time.

Tomorrow the Knight Bee is meeting here for the first time and it should be sooooo much fun to share my new space with them. I have an Amaretto cheese cake chilling and will be finishing up the rest of the refreshments tomorrow. Tomorrow will also be spent cleaning and maybe trying to put away some of those items that just can't seem to find a home here. I am thinking, if I haven't used or needed some things for over two months, do I really need them? We shall see........Next week I have a closet to unload and donate most of it, including quite a lot of shoes. Suddenly my feet seem to have grown.

I did sew something this week. I repaired 5 flags to be used in the Columbia Vet's Ride on December 8th. Please contribute to this great cause. You do not have to ride a motorcycle to help. This may be the only Christmas presents these veterans will receive at Dorn VA Hospital.

Sew something, anything.
Margaret

A good friend nudged and encouraged me to enter The Nimble Thimble quilt show in Fountain Inn that was held last week end. I entered 6 quilts and won 3 ribbons.

 

A Little Storm at Sea

 

Mama's Callie Lillie's

 

A Christmas Tree Skirt

 

 

 

All of these were done several years ago and quilted on my domestic machine. Entering the show and winning ribbons did inspire me this week. I finished quilting a child's charity quilt and will be putting a South Carolina Gamecock quilt on the machine today. Tomorrow I will be heading out to the Augusta Quilt show with a group of ladies. What fun! Since moving, the vendors are not getting much of my business. I think it has something to do with all of the boxes in the living room. Hopefully I will get the IKEA bookcases soon and get this stuff organized. 

 

I received an offer on the house yesterday that I accepted. The planned closing date is November 15th, so I guess I better get my address changed. As you are probably aware, they can back out at any time for any reason and only risk their Earnest money, so it's not sold till I have the check in hand.

 

Ride for Kids is this Sunday at Lexington High School at 2pm. If you ride come join us, if not, please go to the web site and donate to this cause. Ride for Kids supports the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. There will be several of these kids there to thank you for your support.

I forgot to tell you I FOUND IT!. It being the computer dedicated to my long arm. So when I get home I will be starting my business back up this time with more emphasis on quilting quilts for other people vs making custom quilts for others. Making a custom quilt just takes too long for the price and I really don't make any money. See my pricing page for information. If you need that quilt by Christmas you need to get it to your long armmer now before everyone else does. I do ship quilts to other states. I will try and post some examples of my quilting and the prices associated with those designs.

Taking some time off for a short vacation. Riding the trike to Alabama to the Region Rally. I have a costume, but don't think I will wear it ....well.....maybe. The theme is Fiesta. 12 of us on 6 bikes leave tomorrow for Eufaula, Alabama. It is one of the most beautiful places I have been too. It is so serene and peaceful. Huge lakes out in the middle of nowhere and if you go into town they have those beautiful antebellum mansions. One of the largest has been turned into a museum and I plan on seeing it this year and maybe they might have a quilt shop in town this time. They do have some awesome restaurants. But whatever there is going to be fun with a few hundred of some of the nicest folks around. This will be my first time carrying a passenger this far. Most of the time I can hardly tell if someone is in the back seat. I have the trailer loaded with four people's stuff and it is packed. I probably could get some more stuff in it, but do we need it? I have cooler in there and I have to add ice in the morning. I did decide to attach the trailer to the bike in the morning vs doing it in the dark and to check my air pressure. Wish us well as we go the back roads to get there...

I am still opening boxes, but I found this beautiful swag light on Ebay and it is perfect for the back hall.

I also found the food processor base this morning on a shelf in the garage. Don't ask me how it got there, I sure don't know, but it gives me hope in finding the long arm computer (I have a replacement, but it just bothers me that I can't find it). I have about 3 small boxes left in the living room (although the floor is covered with stuff that I have no idea where to put any of it). I have started opening the boxes in the dining room. My goal now is to empty all the boxes (even if I don't put the stuff in them anywhere but on the floor). This way I can get rid of all the empties and at least feel like I have accomplished something. I watched a couple of episodes of Hoarders today and started making stacks of stuff to get rid of. I have quilting magazines from the 90s........seriously. And some of my books are for beginners and need to find a new home.

I have good friends who have his grandmother's kitchen table which is stored in their garage. You remember the chrome legs and it has a yellow top with matching vinyl chairs. It is the little one too, in great condition, which is exactly what I need and the right color. I am swapping my wooden table and chairs for it that is about 35 years old. I will post a photo after we make the exchange.

Started my walking regime back this morning. There is a park at the end of Main Street with a walking track, so I walked down there and around the track 3 times and back. Then I put shelves together for the laundry room. I then cleaned off the kitchen counters (put the coffee maker, toaster and toaster oven on the shelves). Now to open some more boxes........It was ~70° when I did my walking. Fabulous morning.

It has been a while since my last post, but a lot has been accomplished. I have moved and the other house is EMPTY, the carpets have been cleaned and it looks so much better. Now to find a buyer.

The new house is a wreck, there are boxes everywhere. I am trying to organize as I unpack and it is much harder than it sounds. If I think I will need it again, it is piled on the coffee table. So this week, I have decided to clean the area I am living in and to put things away and file papers where they should be filed. I shall NEVER move again unless it is to the nursing home or the grave........

Have a great day and sew something...

Margaret

Two men and a Truck are coming tomorrow and boy am I NOT ready. Today I have to take the long arm apart and get it ready to go. It is really weird, the more I take out of cabinets, the more stuff I find. I think everyone should move at least every 20 years just to get rid of their crap........

I am so nervous, I sign the papers this morning for the new "old" house. And of course something had to happen at the current house and it would be the air conditioner going out. It was 87° in my bedroom last night so of course I did not sleep well. I was going to start moving today, but will now be waiting on the air conditioner technician. Hopefully it is something that the warranty covers, but I doubt it. It never is.

Yesterday I went looking for moving boxes, not going to happen. Everyone keeps their cardboard these days. BI-LO did say if I could call tonight, they might could give me a few. I am waiting on Two Men & A Truck to see what kind of fees they charge.

I decided to put the Ireland photos on their own page, so they would all be together. Enjoy!

Ireland Photos

 

Blue Knights at Blarney Castle

 

Cassidy's hall to our room

 

Liz going through the door. It's a new camera, so I was seeing what it would do.

 

Downtown Dublin and the double decker tour bus.

 

Liz enjoying an Irish beer on our first day.

 

With her fish chowder. I am surprised she didn't come home with gills.

 

She said it was great.

 

My carrot and coriander soup. Yummy!

I haven't posted for two weeks, because I was in Ireland with Bonnie Hunter and a bus load of wonderful quilters. We attended the Irish International Quilt Festival and toured Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland is a beautiful country and was at the top of my "bucket" list. I will be posting photos later.

I had to do some fast yard work before I left and of course I got a poison ivy rash on my arms, even though I was wearing long sleeves and gloves. Thank goodness it was a very mild case and did not ruin my vacation. I have very bad allergies and am always surprised that the poison ivy rash is usually mild. I did have to change seats once on the bus due to perfume. It wasn't that heavy, but enough to bring on a breathing issue reaction (I did not take an inhaler duhhhhhh). I was pleasantly surprised that I did not have a problem on either flight with perfume.

Today at noon, I have to meet my real estate agent and a group of inspectors at the new house. We were due to close on the 29th of June, but the current owner asked if he could have an extra week to have an estate sale on the rest of the contents in the house. I agreed, as long as I get first choice. I have so much stuff of my own, I really don't need anything else that is there. There are two large rugs, one in the dining room and one in the living room (red & white). They need cleaning and when I researched the cost, I can buy new ones in a more neutral color for not a whole lot more. There is a treadle machine base with a marble top I would like to have and there was a long chest (similar to a cedar chest, but about 6+ feet long) that I would love to have had to store quilts in, but he got rid of it already. But now that I have seen it, I may have one made. I am taking room and window measurements today and will take some photos.

Have a great Monday and enjoy your day no matter what you choose to do.

New house or I have lost my mind

Wow, what a week it has been. I made a huge decision of buying a house before mine sold. I am retired, I can't afford two houses, two water bills, two power bills........ Mine is up for sale and I figured out how many payments I can make out of my savings before I have a problem. I forgot about all the fees they charge to buy and sell a house geeez! But the house of my dreams, that I first saw at the age of 18, came on the market and I just know it is the house for me. But I do have to keep telling myself "deep breath, deep breath". I had a contingency contract that would have allowed me to sell my house first but another couple decided to place a contract on it, knowing I had a contract on it, and I had to counter offer by removing the contingency. On the bright side, I will be able to move at my leisure and with the help of my friends. The cost of the fees would have probably been used for professional movers (I am moving a whopping 13 miles) as I would have had to move within a 24 hour period.

The new house has a Florida room that is long and narrow and will be the perfect place for my longarm machine. There is a huge back bedroom with no closets or connected bathroom and will make the perfect sewing room. It has 4 bathrooms which means 4 toilets to clean ;o(. It has a large garage and two buildings for great storage. It was built in 1948 and has the original cast iron enamel double sink and metal cabinets that look new. It is awesome. The best thing about it is that it is a block away from my church and family. I am so blessed and hopefully my house will sell, if not I can always go back to work ;o(

I did it, I signed the papers to sell my home. My husband did all the plans for this house and had it finalized while I was finishing my training in France. He faxed me the house plans over and over with this layout always there, so I finally said yes. I have an 8X11 tool room beside the garage ........and he loved wood, so my house has all the stained moldings in it.

He passed away after we had barely been here four years. It is with mixed emotions that I try and sell this house (trying not to count my chickens before they hatch). I am looking at the house a little differently since I am painting and decluttering....that tool room would hold all of my stash. It currently only has junk that I should have sent to a fundraiser yard sale last Saturday. I think I will call and see if they are planning another one....It is strange that you look at stuff everyday and it doesn't register that it shouldn't be there and you need to move it. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me and a little prayer wouldn't hurt.

Well, I might be about to "step in it" as my Granny used to say. I have put a contingency on an older home (not many folks want to move from a 16 year old house to a 65 year old house), but it is awesome. The perfect home for a quilter. When my husband and I were dating, we drove by this house and I told him that is where I want to live. He just looked at me. He was raised in an older home as was I, but he didn't think it was charming, the lack of hot water, the lack of more than one bathroom etc. He would have liked this house as it has 4 bathrooms with 1 being off the back porch (did you see the movie "The Help"?). It also has a huge garage and the walls are peg board. I am putting my house up for sale on Monday, so keep you fingers and toes crossed and a little prayer wouldn't hurt.

My friend Sara Miller has lost 100 pounds. The following were her weight loss rules:

1. Every day, do at least 45 minutes of exercise (preferably 60 min)
2. No processed sugars or sweets (fruits OK).
3. Low Carbs (carbs in most veggies OK, but no breads, pastas or heavy starches
4. No sodas (diet and regular both out)

I don't know how to set up a link to her blog, but you might can find it by googling Shenyang Team Miller to see her amazing story. I am starting this today and yes I had donuts for breakfast. Going out to walk now for 45 minutes for today. Giving up diet coke is going to be MY biggest challenge. I swear I am addicted. Many thanks to Sara for her inspiration.

Spring flowers

 

Easter lilies not yet ready to bloom.

 

My Iris, the first one I have ever had to bloom and I have about 5 buds and the others look like they might bloom this year.

 

One of the pink azaleas.. Spring has come to the south. I do hope we don't have hail tonight (we have bad storms headed this way) and ruin them. They are the prettiest they have been in a long time.

Well it has been awhile since I blogged, but I have been very sick. I got the crud that was going around, got rid of it and then it came right back, so I was ill for about 6 weeks. I took my flu shot, so it wasn't that, but you couldn't prove it to me. I got behind on all my quilting. Right now I have one friend's quilt and a charity quilt for Devine Quilters and I will be caught up and will work on some stuff of my own. Yeah!

I also got all of the embroidery and patch's sewn on for my Goldwing group. My friend Jennifer Kay for The Quilting Solution came down last weekend and helped me (I mostly watched as I am still tired, this getting old means you don't bounce back so swiftly as you used to do). She decided we need to move the long arm upstairs to the bonus room. She is a wonderful organizer, she doesn't throw out, she organizes. And I am really attached to my stuff, and boy do I have a lot of stuff. She did not organize my fabric or the room that I sew in (so that should give you an idea of how much stuff there is).

I think Spring is here finally and pollen is everywhere. I think we will have about a week of Spring if that. It was 90° yesterday on my deck. But I have Irises blooming for the first time and they are gorgeous. Life is good, enjoy today.

I love the Easter season, expecially the pomp and circumstance of the Easter service. Unfortunantly I have been sick now for over two weeks and did not get to go to Palm Sunday services this morning. This makes me feel worse as these services are so up lifting for me. Hopefully, I will soon start to feel better. This cold is just hanging on and my head would feel better if I could just put a hole in it to drain the congeston. I am so tired of this stuff. And I need to sew........

Photo Quilt

I have been working on a photo quilt for the Pelzer Heritage Commission. I finally got the words ironed on and need to stitch them down. Then to quilt and bind it and ship it off to them. I will post a photo of it when I am done. I also had to applique the Commander's name on his T-Shirt quilt where I spelled his last name wrong. I still don't believe I did that one. And after doing applique and cutting out all of those letters, my right thumb is in agony. I need to take something for it and put it in it's little splint that keeps me from moving it. I do find it quite interesting that blogger will not let me use paragraphs but is running everything together...... Have a great weekend. Margaret

Great Weekend

This weekend I visited my friend Jennifer and Jill whom I had not seen in over 20 years joined us. We had the best time and Dave complained he could not get a word in edgewise. I went by The Container Store on my way to Hickory. The bad thing about shopping, visiting and having my longarm machine adjusted means that today I will have to unload the car. I am going to have to NOT go by The Container Store on my next visit, but what fun. They even load the car for you (there are times I miss the minivan). But I forgot to claim my birthday present....I did decide not to go by IKIA or Mary Jo's........so it could have been worse. What a great long weekend! So off to unload the car, put the machine back on the frame, and put some stuff together to help me organize better.......and then back to working on Galaxy Stars.... Ya'll have a great day and don't forget to sew something.

The T-shirt quilt is finished which is a whoo-hoo. He called me this morning and told me how much he loved it, but........I spelled his last name wrong...too many Ms. I think I need a long vacation.....or sunshine with a beach attached for a weekend.......

I finally got my client's quilt quilted and now I need to do finish the binding. I have it sewn on and now need to do the handwork.I am using Deb Karasik method of putting this binding on. It is looking really good. The bug guy is coming tomorrow. I never have bugs thanks to him since he shows up every three months and sprays. But my house is a mess, oh well, I am in the middle of trying to reorganize everything: closets, drawers and sewing room and sewing storage room. I am not sure I will ever get it done. Hope you had a great Monday. I am now watching Castle, love him.

The car is all gased up and I have Mary's address for my GPS. I looked it up on mapquest and to pick her up at 6, I will have to leave my house at 5:30. Oh my, that is awfully early. Where are we going? To the Quilters of South Carolina Spring Meeting in Hilton Head. We decided to drive down for the day, something we may regret tomorrow afternoon. It is rainy and dreary in SC today, but hopefully tomorrow will be like today and not be a gully washer. We are going to have a great day with around 300 of our friends and fellow quilters. Pictures by Sunday. Ya'll have a great weekend.

There is a quilt on my design wall that just will not put itself on the quilting frame. What is up with that? My client called yesterday to see where I was so I guess I am going to have to help it .........the other design wall is calling my name. Galaxy Stars just wants to be a top and then there is the Easy Street that is all cut out and ready to go. Oh and the Libby Lehman piece I started at Asilomar last year........OK off the couch and off the computer. Not even going to thing about the area under the trees in the back yard that needs cleaning out..........gonna sew something!!!!! Found out why it wouldn't come off the design wall, I spelled his name wrong right in the center of the quilt......

OK, so I just put in an order with Brewer's Quilting Supplies. I had to have a minimum order of $350. The web site would not allow me to order parts and accessories, so I called immediately after placing my order. They will not allow me to add anything because they are "picking" my order already (literally 2 minutes). What a bummer as I had 7 more items I wanted. Be aware you need to call them before entering your order on line if their website does not work. This was my first order and I am not a happy camper.

Having one of those kind of days. I am on my third sewing machine of the day. The Janome is throwing up bobbin thread about every 15 minutes and the old Pfaff wants a new battery. I finally got the Pfaff 2140 to work. I have always wondered why I had so many machines, now I know. I have the T-Shirt quilt top finished and need to quilt it, and 4 blocks of my Galaxy Stars put together. I started to load a charity quilt on my long-arm but the backing was a long piece of fabric that is not wide enough for the quilt and I am not sure it is long enough to cut it apart and make a backing that will go on the long-arm. I guess I will have to piece it which I don't like doing. 

I went to the gym yesterday and made an appointment for Monday to have the trainer give me a routine to firm up and lose some weight. I did not go to the gym today, but I live in a closed subdivision with the perfect place to walk, so I did two rounds this afternoon. I am going to exercise each day of Lent and then I hope it will become a habit that I will continue.

Have a great day, it is a beautiful one here in South Carolina, but they mentioned snow flurries for tomorrow. Do you have your bread and milk yet?

It is 2:21am here on the east coast and I am still awake. I hate those nights I cannot sleep. As I get older they seem to occur more often and at the rate I am going I won't need any sleep in a couple of years. I had a nice cup of hot chocolate and hope I will be able to sleep the rest of the night. Goodnight all........but I did get two extra hours of piecing on my Galaxy Stars quilt.

It is Wednesday and here I sit playing on the computer. I have oiled the longarm and loaded it with a play piece to try a new way of setting the tension by Jamie Wallen. We shall see how that goes. I have a T-shirt quilt on the wall for a customer and just can't seem to get started. The shirts are all stabilized and cut out. I need to do a Navy Seal embroidery along with his name and rank before I start sewing it together. I keep procrastinating on this one and I don't know why. I do have 2 quilts from another customer to be quilted and a Christmas present quilt that needs finishing. I think I am going to have to start a "to do" list like I used to do in my before retirement life. And I need to get off the computer.......

Tonight I was the speaker at Devine Quilters. The title of my trunk show is "Granny, Grandma and Me" and I have quilts made by the 3 of us. I was asked to cut it a little short as there was a need for time for several business discussions. I was able to do that and my audience seemed to like my presentation. It is amazing looking back. I made my first quilt in 1976 and haven't stopped since. Life is good, but there needs to be time to make more quilts.........I don't have all of my quilts since I used to give them away when I was done. Now I have a tendency to keep them and I do a lot of quilting for others. I had a lady to ask me Sunday about making a quilt from her 50 cross-stitch pieces that she has done over the last 20 years. A piece like this turns out to be something very unique and makes someone very happy that their hard work is appreciated.

Sunday started out with a migraine and now I have a sinus infection. My doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics and I got some Mucenex D that does strange things to me. Have you ever felt like your skin wants to crawl off of your bones? Weird.......kind of like cold chills that move in strange patterns...

We have tornado warnings here in SC and strong thunderstorms. Some areas are without power, but so far so good here. Hope everyone out there is safe tonight.

I need to be in three places this weekend so I chose a quilting class taught by Anita Bowen on Galaxy Stars. I have the star pieces cut out and 5 of the center blocks made. Tomorrow I will be cutting out the background and starting on a T-shirt commission. I made a mistake of sending a photo of my progress and he wants me to re-arrange the shirts......They were just pinned to the design wall as I prepared them to keep them all together. He wants them more symmetrical...I have promised to send my final design for him to approve before I start sewing them together.

With my headache, I didn't sleep at all last night, but I bet I will sleep tonight. Ya'll have a good one.

These are the cinnamon rolls I made last Friday night when I was bored and tired of sewing. This was the first time I tried making them and they were wonderful.......and the house smelled so good.

This is the feather weight, that my friend Kay gave to me, isn't she beautiful and she makes a perfect stitch.

I had some great photos to publish, but blogger is choosing them at random and not the ones I have chosen. Kinda weird. But I did finally get it to post my new garden buddy. I ordered him at the SC State Fair and we went to Sumter yesterday and picked him up. Isn't he cute? They had a 6 foot Siamese cat and an 8 foot dragon, but they did not come home with me. They were a little too large. What is a good name for him?

I met this little fellow in Beaufort, he is not a puppy, he is 7 years old and such a sweety. His Mom says he is a Pomeranian, but he looks like a chow puppy to me......So cute (no, I am not going to get another animal)

Today I made my first car payment in 11 years. Ouch. But I really do love my new Prius, it rides great and gets fabulous gas mileage. I love the new car smell. I got rid of two cars both over 10 years old to have just the one.

I got all of Easy Street cut out, now to get it sewn together. I have a new T-shirt commission and 3 customer quilts to quilt and I will be caught up. Although a previous customer has mentioned he might want another quilt. He is collecting more shirts. I am so glad that he was so pleased with my work.

I made homemade cinnamon rolls last Friday night and they were awesome. This was my first time trying to make them because they always looked too complicated. They were not and they were worth the wait to let them rise twice. I graduated from USC's Cooking School and the main thing they taught was not to be afraid of trying any recipe. If it doesn't work Pizza Hut will always deliver.

It's one of those days. It is so humid (100%) but no rain yet, that it is ridiculous. I noticed the food in the fridge was not as cool as I thought it should be and then I went to take some beef out of the freezer. Yep, not working right. It had a thick coating of ice on the back side of the freezer so I took a hair dryer to melt out the ice. I am now waiting on a repairman since my brother-in-law said it was not the humidity, but something was wrong. Geez.......I did get another step of Easy Street completed and after lunch will start on the next step. I have turned on the air conditioning to help take some of the humidity out of the house and now they are predicting snow flurries. In South Carolina if you don't like the weather, just wait and it will change. It was 80 this past weekend in Charleston and very spring like.

Yesterday I said goodbye to my little sports car. I bought it from my sister-in-law in 2005. It was an SLK230 hardtop convertible. My friend Kathleen had the biggest smile you have ever seen when she took it out for a test drive. I am so happy it went to a friend. I think I am going for a new phase in life. I still have my motorcycle, but I am becoming more practical as I age. I bought a new Prius and I love it. I traded in the old minivan that was starting to come apart since there was no room in the garage for it and I have no shade in my yard. The temperature this year went as high as 113°F which is really bad for a car that has to sit in the sun, so there was no way I was going to park the SLK or the Prious outside (the Honda Trike and trailer fill one bay of the garage). So I now only have one car for the first time in my life. It feels kinda weird, but I am sure I will survive.

To celebrate, I order 3 bolts of fabric yesterday just cause it was pretty, although one was a 20 yard bolt of black (I put black in just about everything) and consider that a practical purchase. My UPS guy can't figure out all these packages. Now to order some batting.......he should like that one.

Spending this weekend in Charleston. On Saturday I have an 8 hour meeting for Gwrra and then Sunday we are just going to bum around. The weather is supposed to be over 70°F in South Carolina this weekend. Ya'll have a great one.

Today I went and picked up Maggie's ashes and she is now on the mantel. This is the one place she would sit and look at intently trying to figure a way up there. She came back in a tiny little carved ornate box. It may be awhile before I scatter her ashes.

I am spinning my wheels today, getting nothing done. But I did finally set up my new featherweight and promptly burned my hand. Ouch. I have a photo but blogger isn't co-operating, so I will try and post it later.

Tonight's GWRRA Chapter P's dinner is at Crackle Barrel in Irmo. It looks like it is going to rain so I will not be riding my motorcycle. I am the 2013-14 Chapter Director. I hope they are ready for me.

Ya'll have a great afternoon.

To end the new year, I decided to buy a new car. I had two cars both over ten years old and decided it was time. I choose a 2013 Toyoto Prius C Class and I love it. I am averaging 44 miles per gallon on my first tank. It has 2 motors, one electric and one gas. The gas motor charges the electric motor. I feel like I am one of the Jetson's. It has built in noises when you stop that are so cool, they are to warn a blind person crossing the road that there is a car coming. The guy I dealt with was originally from Jamaica and had the coolest accent and gave me a great deal and great service. It has all kinds of buttons and whistles that I have never had (my van had a steering wheel, CD player and cruise control). I traded in the van and am selling my 2002 Mercedes SLK230 to my sister-in-law. I am such a happy camper.......

Unfortunately to start the year, on the second, I lost my kitty, Maggie Mae Silverstreak to cancer. She was 13 and I have finally quit crying. They are going to cremate her and I will put the ashes on my late husband's grave. After all, she was his baby first. I have cleaned up her room (yes she had her own room and actually she thought the house was hers and I just visited). While working on EasyStreet last night I saw her come across the kitchen floor twice. Hopefully this will not be happening often. I know it is memories, but it didn't help at all.

Today Jennifer Kay from Quilting Solutions is coming to help me with a problem that I am having with my Homesteader machine. I know it is me, I only have problems when I change the needle, but I cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. I do finally get it set correctly, but she insists it should be right the first time and I shouldn't have to fiddle with it.

Well back to EasyStreet piecing. I am working on Step 4 but skipped 3. Don't know why, just did......