Petunia rambles on and on….

When I want to sew, I go to the JoAnn’s Fabric chain store just down the highway. They usually have the sort of fabric I’m looking for, and all the notions, tools and such that I’ll need. And they send me coupons! 50% off coupons! And I know how to use them.  I don’t buy 2 yards of quilt batting – I buy the whole bolt. Do the same with muslin backing fabrics. If I’m going to use it in quantity, I wait for the coupon and buy then!

And I often buy quilting fabrics in there. The quality that they carry has increased over the years, and they do carry several lines of better grade fabrics. But when I’ve got something special in mind and want a better quality fabric and was willing to pay accordingly, I’ve always gone up to Quilter’s Hive, in Newark, DE.  Although it’s an hour’s drive from here, it wasn’t usually a problem. One of my sons went to the Univ of Delaware in Newark, and now lives in that area, so that store, my son and Stitches with Style made the trip worthwhile! Still, it was a long way to go if you just needed a half yard of fabric in just that certain color to match with ones already here.

Recently, I’d heard there was a new quilting store in Dover, out on Route 10, but hadn’t been there. On Friday, knowing that Pop was working late and I didn’t have to rush home to cook dinner, I went there just to check it out.  Chicks N Stitches, 115-F East Lebanon Road (Rt 10) in Dover – I’ve searched and can not find a website yet, but will check with them on that.

Now I’ve been hand- and machine-quilting for years, and before that, I made my own clothes since I was in school, made clothes for the children, household items like curtains, placemats, pillows and such.  I know my way around a sewing machine and a fabric store.  I was impressed with this one.  Not as physically big as the store in Newark, but a great deal of stock packed into the space they have. Beautiful quality of fabrics – this isn’t Wal-mart quality or price range.  You touch this fabric and you know the difference.  Beautiful displays, colorful and well-made, the kind that turn non-quilters into quilting wannabes!  As I’ve got enough fabric already to keep me busy for the next decade, I was looking at a display of bags/totes/purses, whatever you want to use them for!  The patterns were from Lazy Girl Designs (now doesn’t that name have appeal?) and I chose the Miranda Day Bag.  I went around the store about 6 times before I finally chose my fabric – couldn’t make up my mind with such a selection there!

Finally settled on several co-ordinating prints with dark brown, tan and a teal-turquoise blue. And then I thought that first, before I screw up on beautiful fabric, let me look in my stash of fat quarters to see what I could do, as a “prototype.”  Make a practice model first. 

A lot of cutting for these bags. Guess I just didn’t think that far. There’s 2 fabrics for the outside of the bag, a lining, material for interior pockets. Then there’s the quilt batting and the interfacing. No patterns here, just directions for the needed sizes to be rotary cut. Cutting directions are clear, with measurements given and layouts. Pattern is exquisite in that it is several pages, many color photos of everything you need to do and they show HOW to do it. The written instructions are easy to understand. You don’t have to be a seamstress to follow along with these pictures. For a long time, this looked nothing like a bag, and then, all of a sudden, it was a beautiful bag!

Purple is a bastard to photograph and display properly. As Daughter’s favorite color has always been purple, the deep, rich purples, I had plenty of fabric around here to chose from. Trust me, the bottom, straps, top hem are that shade!  (my monitor is showing it as more of a Navy Blue! might look different again on yours)

Close-up of the fabric on the cover of the bag, again with the shades of purple skewed.  I’ve got an envelope with 2″ squares of fabric to go down to Daughter, so she can see the actual color shades for herself!

Opinion – well, I can’t wait to do more.  The pattern is a joy to use, and I’m already thinking of some of the others from this designer that I saw at Chicks N Stitches. Only problem I had was remembering which pattern piece was which in the beginning – my bad. I made labels! I’m thinking of different ways to keep the bag closed.  Velcro is one of the options and I don’t like using it.  It doesn’t work well for very long in a house with dog/dog hair! I love the magnetic clasps that are available, but I’ve had my debit card go bad, and now my Visa card won’t swipe; I suspect the magnetized snaps on the purse I’m currently carrying.  Not sure, but….  Maybe Velcro is the best choice. How about a big funky button?  Daughter???

And I’ll be going back to that store! Probably soon.

Yeah, I haven’t posted in 14 Forevers.  I’m home on Sick Leave and outrageously bored.  I have thousands of dollars worth of Titanium pounded into my jawbone and some of the finest stitchery you’ve ever seen inside my mouth where you won’t ever see it.  Oddly, the most painful part of this whole procedure is my left arm. 

(????????)

I’m thinking that when they set the IV in the back of my hand, right around the time that I let out a loud yelp, perhaps they hit a nerve or something.  Or my hand just doesn’t like this sort of treatment. Anyhow, after the procedure is done and over with and I’m back home convalescing, I noticed that my veins are weirdly distended  and my arm is starting to swell. My wrist is now twice the size it was 3 days ago and I can’t wear my watch.  The swelling is almost up to my elbow.  When people talk about “Luck of the Irish,” it must be noted that my ancestors came from Poland.

So what moves me to finally blog again, you are all asking, I’m sure.  Maybe one of you is, maybe.

Reading the news today, and still they write about the flap over going from analog to digital signal for television service.  This has been known for years here, well-publicized, well-explained over and over and over.  Those that haven’t been able to understand have an I.Q. lower than that of the average scrubbing brush. Or perhaps they thought this would just all go away and they wouldn’t have to do anything.  It’s already been postponed once, from February to June, to give people additional time to get ready.  Apparently, instead of believing in that old adage we heard as children, “The Lord helps those who help themselves,” they went to the newer way of doing things, which is, “Sit on your ass long enough while complaining loudly and the government will come in and do it for you AND pick up the damn tab for it, too.”

Hey, if it works!   (and it seems to)

See this, from a Yahoo page today:

The Commerce Department reported a last-minute rush for the $40 converter box coupons: It received 319,990 requests Thursday, nearly four times the daily average for the past month. In all, the government has mailed coupons for almost 60 million converter boxes. The limit is two coupons per household.

Pulling from my 4th grade mathematics skill, I figure that my government has taken $2,400 MILLION dollars and given it out to people to allow them to continue to receive programming such as Monster Quest and re-runs of StarTrek.  They have done this for folks who have refused to pay for this themselves, after having had years of notice that it would be necessary if they wished to continue watching the boob tube.  Had they given up a few meals at KFC, they’d have been able to handle the financial burden on their own.

Instead, the government is providing assistance.  No, let’s get that straight. I’m paying for it, and you are, and so is that guy over there.  Without being asked if we were willing to be “our brother’s television keeper.”

Our health care in this country is in a shambles. Facts all over the internet point to a horrendous increase in the number of personal bankruptcies filed in the United States in the last year, and 62% of those cases include, in large part, medical costs that families are unable to pay. Medical costs they they were unable to keep up with AFTER their health care provider paid off their pittance of a benefit.  Families who work for a living, pay for insurance, and are now faced with losing their homes and security because of skyrocketing medical costs that no one can cope with. Decent folk whose lives are being destroyed.

And we give out coupons for converter boxes for television service.  60 million of them, $40 apiece.

Was mine the last generation to be taught responsibility?

Damn, I’m so far behind in everything.  I think I’ll get stuff caught up in about 18 months.

I got beautiful flowers from beautiful daughter and her family on Mother’s Day, fragrant, lovely, purple-y parts!!  Bright and cheerful.

And Pop got me a beautiful cross, with emeralds for the May birthday. 

I fear the fine chain, though. He doesn’t realize how easily they break!

Brian bought me petunias!  How appropriate!!   And as I was laughing, he handed me a card with a gift certificate inside for massage session, day at the spa at the Toppers Salon inside Dover Downs Hotel and Casino. I sat down abruptly, before I fell down!  Earlier in the week, he had suggested taking me out for dinner. While it’s a wonderful idea, I’m in the middle of lots and lots of dental surgery work. As soon as I heal, we go on to the next painful task on a long agenda designed to help pay for fully fund the education of my oral surgeon’s children at the finest schools. Eating isn’t fun right now – I suggested we postpone this until maybe October!!  And I was fine with that.  He asked around for ideas and several lady friends suggested something like this! 

When he’s next to me, so tall, I feel like I must be standing in a hole in the floor!!  If he straightens up, I barely come up past his shoulder!!