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Post by choney2 on Feb 10, 2020 10:08:41 GMT
Good morning and Happy Monday!
All crafters are welcome here as we discuss crafting, life and our weight loss journey. Crafting includes actual hands on crafting, such as crochetting, knitting, sewing, quilting, needlepoint, painting, jewelry making, etc.....plus reading craft catalogs, craft blogs, watching craft you tubes or other crafting videos, chatting here about crafting,chatting with another person about crafting, reading craft emails, thinking about crafting, organizing crafting supplies, going into craft stores or the craft aisle in a store , attending craft fairs,or any other activity that inspires or directs your mind toward a crafting activity. We welcome newcomers to our friendly discussion!
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Post by choney2 on Feb 10, 2020 10:13:06 GMT
Well I sit here feeling rather mind numbed that its really Monday and another week begins. Yesterday Dd came over instead of Saturday because she had a school activity on Saturday which she had to take care of. It was nice to see her and she spent a good part of the day with us. Ruth, regarding the quilt, they selected the fabrics but it was up to us how to use each fabric. And its not so hard, it does sort of come to you as you go along... I would never say I am good at fabric selection but do ok with it. Some do have a real eye for it however.
Gotta get my day started. See ya later Ginny
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Post by cj59 on Feb 10, 2020 18:50:34 GMT
Hello Crafters - Hope you are all doing well today Phyl - That's a pretty collection of Christmas fabrics, I bet they look beautiful in your blocks. Glad you were able to get out for the performance. Ruth - One of the nice things about quilting fabrics these days is that there are so many collections, and it takes all the fuss out of picking fabrics. Of course, they are a bit more expensive unless you can get them on sale. Ginny - Your quilt top is stunning! You made great choices in the placement of your fabrics, everything stands out. Meg and Sue - Hope you are getting some crafting in. I got the software update done on my car this morning and then shopping for the supplies for the mailing boxes so I can get the framed pictures packed and sent to family members. I also picked up a few groceries. Took me about 5 trips back and forth to the car to get everything in the house and I have steps going into my house, so I'm tired I did a few rows on my other two unfinished crochet blankets last night and didn't enjoy them that much either, so I didn't take anything with me today. Maybe I just need to be in the right mood for crochet. I did pick up some of the dental floss threaders at the store today so I'll try them out with threading the embroidery floss and report back to you to let you know how they worked Take care everyone!
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Post by snowsaint on Feb 10, 2020 21:16:27 GMT
Snow and icy roads. It's not horrible, but then I chose to live in the north knowing that there was a long winter!
There was a bad accident west of town today. At least four cars and a pick up. I am really glad that I decided to buy snow tires last fall. I had all weather tires, but the snow tires are much better for driving here. I prefer 4WD, but AWD is okay, now that I'm used to it. Sure wish everyone had properly equipped vehicles and knew how to adjust their driving to our winter conditions.
So many fabrics, so many yarns! Never enough time! The last few weeks I've done more reading than crafting! I did pick up a few crafty magazines, so my head is filled with too many ideas!
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Post by choney2 on Feb 10, 2020 22:41:11 GMT
Sue, How is your husband doing? Last we had heard from you he had bumped his head- we all sure hope he is ok. I gather because you did not mention it that he is fine. Good news there. Yes there ought to be a special license for driving in the snow. Many just do not know what they are doing and are putting everyone else at risk. Having a 4 WD vehicle is no assurance that you are any good at driving in what white stuff either. Hope no one was seriously injured in the accident near you. Stay home and stay safe until the weather is better.
Ruth, CJ brings up an excellent idea and she is so right!! Many of the quilt store fabrics are in collections and all the fabrics are made to go together. My BOM is from a collection so all the fabrics work well with each other. It makes it much easier. Another idea, which has worked for me, is to find a fabric I really like- and then ask for help. This even works at both Joanns and HL. The split rail quilt I made for my DSIL was all Joanns fabric fabrics, and I remember being stumped by which fabrics to use. The sales help at Joanns really gave me great advice, which I was very thankful for. Also each time you ask for help, you gain knowledge from whoever helps you....don’t be afraid!
CJ- good luck with those floss threaders - I cannot see why they would not work as long as the needle eye is large enough. Thanks for the reminder, that I too have to get my car software updated! Will take care of that next month...Glad you got your activity points in going back and forth to the car. Its amazing how many steps that is for sure!! Sometimes I like to quilt....sometimes I like to crochet and sometimes needlework is just what I wanted to do. Its rare that I am in a mood to do all 3. Yup, sounds like crochetting is not what you wanted to do today, but you have been doing a lot of quilting recently. Guess you just want to play with fabric these days.
Speaking of playing with fabric, I babysat at DD’s today. They lost power for about 2 hours, but I was up to my eyeballs folding her laundry. When I finished, the power was still off, so I sat down to work on the pillowcase, only to find that I left the directions and color chart at home. Very frustrating.....so I got next to nothing done.
Good to be home. Guess I better do the dishes. Ginny
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Post by gramma15 on Feb 11, 2020 2:15:51 GMT
Sue, I know what you mean. People here also drive like they've never seen snow before. We can go out and drive somewhere being very careful then one of those people plow into us because they aren't being at all careful.I hope the accident you were talking about wasn't my grandson or his family. They live somewhere near you. I'm not sure exactly where. I did know but can't think of the place right now. Update software? I didn't know you had to do that with a car. I guess I'd better check into that. I didn't see anything in my books saying that needed to be done. Yes I completely forgot about the collections and I'm guessing that's what the jelly rolls and the other packs of fabrics that all of you have mentioned are. Great idea. And Ginny you did mention that before about asking for help but I forgot again. We used to have a Hancock fabric store here but I knew one of the women that worked there at the cutting table and she didn't know anything about sewing at all.I bet the people that work in Hobby Lobby's fabric department do though. We didn't have any other craft stores here until about a month ago when a Michael's opened up. I haven't been there yet and probably won't be for while..probably in the summer. CJ, it sounds like you got a lot of shopping done and got the car maintenance taken care of. It's always nice to have those things done for awhile. How often do you have to get your software updated? It sounds like crocheting isn't of much interest to you right now. Pack it away and maybe sometime in the future you'll want to get back to it. Or you could donate it somewhere. One time someone donated a whole bag( maybe I mentioned this before) completed crocheted squares, their remaining yarn and the hook they used to my Caps for kids group. It was for an afgan.The leader gave the whole thing to me but I still haven't put it together. I don't like the joining parts or even weaving ends. I think Ginny mentioning making a baby blanket for her dgs with lots of little squares. I made a sweater with 54 sqares for my then new dgd. I did get those squares together but that's a part of making something I really dread is the sewing part and weaving in end.I can imagine all the ends you had, Ginny, because I had hundreds it seemed like on that sweater. Nothing like a tiny granny square made in three colors to weave in ends for and then all those rows and rows of seaming
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Post by choney2 on Feb 11, 2020 14:52:39 GMT
Ruth, if your car has a GPS system you will get an offer for a map update when its time.. For the Nissan Altima that we used to own.installing the updated software was super easy- and took about 5 minutes. Not sure what it will be like with our Ford, which I should get updated before we go away on a trip. Its nice to have the updated maps when you travel, but you can survive without the updates. I forget how many tiny granny squares (in 5 different colors!) are in DGS’s afghan, but its so pretty and is meant to look like a quilt. You bet the rows of seaming were horrific, just as I bet the Sweater you made for DGD was. Oh the things we do for love of our grandkids.
When I went to HL to get fabric for the Bible cover, I found out that the woman at the cutting table was also a pastors wife. That time I did not need help with fabric selection as I had DD#2 with me, and she has a wonderful eye for fabric choice. Even her quilting instructor (Dd took a quilting class in HS) told her she had an awesome eye for coordinating fabrics. Anyway, Ruth, it really only takes hanging out once with someone who knows what they are doing with regard to fabric selection and once you start to hear the rationale behind what goes with what, its not so bad.
Got 2 grandkids coming here soon. BBL G
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Post by cj59 on Feb 11, 2020 23:13:29 GMT
Hello Crafters - Hope you are all doing well today Ruth - I thought about one other way to pick out fabrics for a quilt project. Once you have picked the main (focus) fabric you'd like to use, look along the edge of the fabric at the selvedge where it lists the name and maker of the fabric. There are several colored dots beside the writing. These colors are all the ones in the fabric you picked and you can use those dot colors to pick fabrics that will go well with your main fabric. I'm glad to hear you all are prepared for driving in snowy weather. If you want to see people who really don't know how to drive in the snow come to the Washington DC area We get so little snow around here and have so many people from other areas living here that it's crazy every time it does snow. I'm glad now that I'm retired that I don't have to drive in it. I remember when I was working and it snowed, it once took me over 3 hours to drive home (16 miles), it was a nightmare! We've had a lot of rain so far this week and it looks like we'll get some more tomorrow and Thursday and then the weather is turning cold. I'm debating about going out another day this week, but I want to wait until I get another monthly bill in the mail, so I can mail my payment while I'm out. I worked on my taxes today and I owe just a little bit to the state, which is unusual. I usually get back a small amount, but I guess with the tax changes the last few years it's affecting how much I owe to the state. I don't mind sending them a check. I don't want to change my withholdings from my retirement check since I'm happy with the amount I take out right now. I will get a refund from federal, not that much but I'm fine with that too. I still haven't tried threading that needle, I'll let you know when I do Take care everyone!
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Post by cj59 on Feb 11, 2020 23:18:21 GMT
Ruth - I forgot to talk about the software update for my car. I received a notice that there was an update from the manufacturer. Just going to get an update is not something you have to do on a regular basis, only if you receive a notice that it needs done.
Note - I don't know anything about GPS, so it might work differently.
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Post by choney2 on Feb 12, 2020 1:45:17 GMT
CJ, yes, you gave great advice to Ruth on color choices/matches for fabrics. I do know they also suggest varying the scale of the pattern of fabrics, using a small print with a medium print and a coordinating large print for varied interest. My sister attended American University in Washington DC and her sentiments about the Washington DC drivers echoes yours- that they are the absolute worst in snowy weather. Congrats on getting those taxes done- sounds like a wash, that the state and the federal cancel each other out.
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Post by gramma15 on Feb 12, 2020 1:54:42 GMT
CJ, I always wondered what those little dots were for. Thank you so much for the info. I'm kind of a Scrooge so I hate to have to spend money to buy a jellyroll or whatever and would rather buy fabric by the yard and cut it since I have more time than money.
I asked dh this morning if he had heard about having software on a car updated. He said that he had told me a couple times about it but I don't remember him doing that. It sounds like your's, CJ, it not something that has to be done routinely. I don't have gps on my vehicles. I do have a navigation system on my truck that the previous owner had installed on it so has nothing to do with the manufacturerer of the vehicle and I have no idea how to use it anyway. So anyway, I don't have to have my maps updated since I have none except for the one on my used truck. So I'm going to check with the dealer sometime about software updates.
Got dh to his doctor appointment despite there being unbeliveable wind this morning. I thought it was bad enough from inside the house but once we got outside the wind sound was just awful and it even rocked my van back and forth and it's a very heavy van. Got just a ways down the street and the wind was calmer ther but when we got back home it was still bad right here at our house. DH has a couple things he has to have taken care of but we wants to wait...men!!
I got my crocheting all ready to take with me and forgot it at home. We didn't have much of a wait for his blood to be drawn or to get into the exam room for the doctor but then did have a wait until the doctor actually came in and then while waiting for the nurse to come in with his flu shot.
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Post by gramma15 on Feb 12, 2020 1:58:36 GMT
I didn't think about the size of prints, etc for fabric choices but it sure makes sense. Didn't see that post of yours there until after I sent my other one, Ginny.
Only time I ever drove in the DC area was back in probably 1968 or so. Sure wouldn't want to drive there now, snow or no snow. No other big cities either.
Good thing I didn't get to working on my taxes last week as I had planned because I just got two more documents in the mail that I need in order to do them.
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Post by snowsaint on Feb 12, 2020 4:41:41 GMT
hb says his head feels fine, but now he has a real shiner in addition to the bruising on his forehead. No unusual behavior. Still monitoring.
Once upon a time, I lived in Baltimore for four years, and I have driven in D.C. Challenging. That was more than half a century ago! .
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Post by choney2 on Feb 12, 2020 13:48:05 GMT
Sue, good to hear that your husband feels fine and seems normal other than looking like he took up boxing.
Ruth, yeah if you have a GPS system then they do need updating every few years. Beyond that, the dealership should take care of any software needs your car has I would think. Glad you got Dh to the doctor for his appointment despite the wind and all.l Yes men can be very stubborn and some of the tests doctors ask for are not the most pleasant. I know that sometimes it seems as though the doctors are asking for tests that seem to make no sense- hope that if Dh needs something or it would be beneficial to him that he goes.
Slept kind of poorly last night. Lets see what my Dh wants to do...he likes to get out a lot and I am a bit more of a homebody. G
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Post by gramma15 on Feb 12, 2020 20:02:09 GMT
Sue I'm glad to hear your hubby is ok even though he looks like he's been thru a war. Is it snowing there? We have a lot of new snow and it's snowing a lot so far today.
Good thing we took care of our shopping on the way home yesterday. We were going to go out today and didn't realize it was going to snow but, as I mentioned to Sue, it's really snowing hard. No wind though. We were able to get in to see the doctor early so got out in time that it wasn't dark when I was driving home even with the stops for shopping and picking up pizza.
The only crafting I did yesterday was getting that yarn together to take to the doctor's office which I left at home.
Ginny, I hope you do get some at home time.
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