|
Post by Ruth on Apr 22, 2021 21:56:51 GMT
Good afternoon or evening everyone.
Ginny,they never had a yogurt bar in my college. I love salad bars. Haven't been to a place where they have one since May of 2019. I hope you were able to get all the supplies for the shower and have had success in your sewing machine needle problem.
Today I did a little cleaning and managed to get dh to agree to get rid of some useless kitchen utensils and knives. It's hard to convince him to let go of anything. We also wondered where some of the kitchen things were and remembered that they were packed before our aborted trip.Then I mixed up bread dought. It's the same one I made the other day which, when cooled, actually turned out great. This time I made the whole recipe which makes two loaves so hopefully it turns out that good also. I might make dh a carrot cake later but most likely it will be tomorrow. Last night I worked on my shark and had to alter the pattern some because th4e way it was didn't make a nice looking shark body. So now I just have the fins to make and sew on. .. six fins.
CJ, are you working on the plate quilt today?
Phyl, how's everything with you?
Sue has it warmed up up there?
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 23, 2021 0:43:01 GMT
Good evening, Ruth,without the yogurt bar I would most likely have starved at college! It was not terribly fancy- of course vanilla yogurt (which I love) and some fruit (mostly canned), nuts, granola, honey, raisins etc....I enjoyed that for many many lunches. Dinner was salad bar time. Anyway, I cannot remember the last time I was at a salad bar, perhaps a few years ago when Dh and I went to Pennsylvania to an Amish smorgasbord. We were supposed to return to the same place in the spring of 2020- of course the trip was cancelled. Glad you had such good success with making bread. I know that breads are sensitive to both air pressure and humidity changes, so I wonder if weather was of any impact to your difficulties the other day. So good to hear that the dough today turned out well and I hope that the bread was perfect. Now you will not have to bake bread for a few days- and tomorrow you are on to making carrot cake for Dh. Its great that you are so knowledgeable about your crocheting that you are able to modify the pattern to make it work out better. What color is the shark?
Finally had an afternoon to myself, sort of, and I did take apart my machine. It needed vacuuming....which I did. I put it back together, crossed my fingers....and it works great! I have to remember that I did make a baby quilt last spring, DGS #3 baby quilt and now the falling charms quilt...all of which make a lot of lint. When I finish DGS#3 baby quilt I will take the machine in for servicing...just am glad I was able to fix the problem today.
It was cold here, we actually had a light snow here today, and I built a fire because I was chilly. I am babysitting tomorrow....so it will be a long day. Hi to Phyl, CJ and Sue. Ginny
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 23, 2021 1:06:48 GMT
I don't know how it happens but someone, once again, I hit something wrong and my message vanished without a trace. Wll bb tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 23, 2021 13:56:11 GMT
Don’t ya hate that??? Vavoom!!!! Message gone in space....lost somewhere in cyberland. Looking forward to hearing from you when you get a chance to post Ruth. Looking forward to hearing from CJ, Phy,l and Sue too!!!
Babysitting today . So far the little ones are being good
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 23, 2021 22:02:56 GMT
I think I need to read about what maintenance is needed on my machine because I haven't done any yet. Of course I haven't used it much. I don't remember when i bought it. The shop where I bought it closed and I only know about one sewing machine person here and he's the one I took my old machine to and he charged me a whole lot and the machine did exactly the same thing once I got it home. I'll have to check and see if there are things that need to be done that I can't do myself and if so try to find out if there's any place here other than that man.
Ginny, I know you like cooler weather so am happy for you that it did get cooler and you were able to make and enjoy a fire. Today it's colder here than it was yesterday but the weekend will be great.It sounds like your baby grandson is feeling better after his course of antibiotics. I hope you were able to get all the supplies you need for the baby shower.You asked about the color of the shark..It's blue to match the edging on the blanket and th4e shark applique I'm putting on the blanket. I need to get these aliens done first though...Yoda and the strange planet beings.
|
|
|
Post by cj59 on Apr 24, 2021 0:51:05 GMT
Hello Everyone - Hope you are all doing well today The weather here has been pretty nice. I went out yesterday to get a few groceries and I also stopped at JoAnn's and bought some thread, batting and fabric. I had been looking for fabric to add borders to 2 quilt tops that just didn't look finished the way they were and I found fabrics that I think will work. Today I machine quilted the 3 tops that I pulled out to work on for this month. I'm glad to be done with them, machine quilting is just not my idea of an enjoyable time I was glad just to put everything away (I have to move a lot of stuff and pull out my heavy duty machine when I work on machine quilting). I'm hoping that I might be able to machine quilt a few more tops next week since once it gets hot I can't really work in my sewing room that much since it's upstairs and it gets a lot hotter there in the summer. I noticed that there is less fabric and yarn in JoAnns now. I'm not sure if it's just they have trouble getting it or if so many people are buying online instead of coming in the store and they've decided not to stock as much. Hope all of you are getting to do some crafting and that you have a great weekend
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 24, 2021 1:06:30 GMT
Survived a long day-
Ruth, I would check Janomes web site or a manual to see what the machine needs. Many no longer require lubrication- but my old singer did. I know that machines need to run- the parts are meant to move. Do not blow into the machine- use a vacuum hose to suck like and dust out (along with the little whisk brush that usually comes with most machines). Not sure what kind of advice I would give regarding service, as you do not use it that much. I think a blue shark sounds pretty cool. A rubber shark that Ds used to have is a lovely shade of blue. I am sure its going to be really cute. Gotta say your mention of the “strange planet beings”made me laugh. I just found the name funny.
Decent but long day. So glad its the weekend. Ginny
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 24, 2021 1:09:14 GMT
CJ- that is a bummer that Joanns has less fabric and yarn.. what did they fill the store with then? I had heard that crafting supplies were tough to come by during the height of covid. Glad you got your quilting done.and that you got to Joanns to snoop around.... For me, fabric is something I like to touch and feel and compare to other fabric. Not so sure how thrilled I would be buying a lot of fabric online.
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 24, 2021 3:53:39 GMT
Ginny, you seem to have a lot of long days. I hope some of it was enjoyable. Just seeing the sweet faces of your grandchildren is undoubtedly enough to make you smile. Thank you for the advice on the sewing machine. I have my manual and , as you said, I can look it up online too to find out details. Yes you're right about them being used. I need to use mine more. Last I used it was for making those first masks over a year ago. Haven't made them or anything else since. Oh maybe the 10 minute table runners were after that. Even so I need to use it more and will as soon as it gets warmer. CJ, I have the opposite problem in that the main living floor of my house is too cold in winter unless I have a wood fire.In the summer it does get too hot but I can deal with heat.I don't like cold. I've heard that Micheals' doesn't have a very good yarn department. I've never been in the one here that opened two years ago.We don't have a Joann's. I hope that Hobby Lobby doesn't get rid of their fabric or cut down too much because they used to have very nice fabric. I think that they have cut down on the amount of yarn they sell and display there. I was just thinking of you earlier and how you get things done. Now you've finished machine quilting the tops you planned to do this month. The reason I thought about that is because of how I procrastinate on doing the final touches on my project. I admire your persistence.Instead of doing the finishing of my yoda and blue aliens and the shark and blanket I started a baby hat to go with both of those. Baby won't even need a hat in the summer. So speaking of that I guess I'll get back to the tiny hat. At least I should get that done tonight
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 24, 2021 12:16:36 GMT
I cannot figure out why ACMoore closed, what 2 or 3 years ago? They did everything better than Michaels- and their yarn department was great. I can still see the tall wall (perhaps15 feet high at least) of different colors of supersaver yarn, and they had all the colors. They also had great sales... Just so frustrating that the chain closed. Hobby lobby has a decent enough yarn department and I do like their fabric department, although it is not as comprehensive as Joanns.
Ruth, well you did use your machine and I would think that as long as you use it as you have been, for several small projects throughout the year, then you should be fine. I know that sewing machines do not like dust or extremely high humidity too, so if you have a machine cover that would be helpful. (There are easy patterns/plans online on making a machine cover from fabric if you do not have a cover). Or if you are keeping the machine in a box, that serves the same purpose. Any news from DGGD on her little one?? That baby is due in only a few weeks, right?
CJ- yes your persistence and perseverance is quite outstanding. You do set your crafting goals and get them done!!! So glad to hear that you are done with machine quilting, as that is really not your favorite part of the process. (What is your favorite part of quilting??) Think we all have a seasonal shift in what we make. Do you think you will work on a hand quilting project during the summer and warmer weather?
Phyl- you have been quiet this week.....hope you are feeling well. Did you look for another fall project similar to the one you saw in the quilt shop?
Sue- are you starting to get spring weather?? (Finally?).
Ok, got a lot to do at home today.....so I better inspire myself to get busy.
Have a great day all Ginny
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 24, 2021 18:41:20 GMT
All the good stores close and the ones that aren't great last forever. When we did have a joann's here, though, the ladies in the fabric dep't didn't know how to cut fabric. Many times I ended up short because they cut it crooked. Otherwise it was still a very messy looking store. I don't think I even looked at their yarn dep't back then and maybe they didn't have one.
Well it didn't turn out that the weather followed the forecast. It's warmer than yesterday but not even close to what the forecast said it would be.
I did work on the little hat and have it almost done. It's done in the round but you still have to turn. I'm not good at all at doing hats that way. People suggested that I use stitch markers but the problem is I don't know where to put the stitch marker. At least this one is better than others I've made that way in that I have the same number of stitches in each row so I guess I'm getting better at it.
Ginny,after the busy week you had I would guess that you have a lot of household things you want to catch up on and also work on what you still need to do for the baby shower. I haven't heard anything about my dgd so that's a good thing.Bad news I always hear.
|
|
|
Post by cj59 on Apr 24, 2021 19:57:09 GMT
Hello Everyone Ruth - I'm glad you are making lots of progress on the hat, hope you can get it finished today or this weekend. Ginny - Hope you are able to get everything done today so you can rest some this weekend. In the JoAnn's store I went in, they mostly weren't stocking the shelves with anything to fill the gaps - especially in the yarn area - there were lots of empty racks. The fabric area was just consolidated more with less to buy. I agree about A.C. Moore being a much better store, I really liked shopping at the one I went to and I was sad they closed. I don't care for Michael's much. The store in my area is very badly lighted inside and it just feels dark and gloomy in there. I have bought a lot of fabric online and most of them time I'm very happy with my purchase. There have only been a few things that just didn't look good as far as color and/or quality that I've bought. I'm not sure what I'll do in the summer as far as quilting goes. I might be able to do some work in the mornings, I guess that's what I did last year - sadly I can't remember My favorite part of quilting is the fabric. I love to look at the different patterns/colors and I like to buy it. I also enjoy the feel of most fabrics. After that it's probably looking at pictures of quilts. I was able to finish putting borders on those two tops I mentioned that I felt needed them, and the fabrics I bought at JoAnns worked well, so I'm happy to have them done. I just have one other quilt - my largest quilt - that I'd like to add some borders to. I need to pull it out and see if I have any fabric that will work or if I need to buy something else. I'm attaching a picture of one of the quilts I added 2 borders to this morning - a small cream inner border and a larger brown outer border. This is a Falling Charms quilt and I loved the fabrics in the charm pack - they are all reproduction type fabrics. It's hard to see how pretty they are in the picture, but I'm really happy with how this top turned out. Hope you all have a good day
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 24, 2021 23:06:37 GMT
CJ, I love it!! The fabrics do go well with the blocks. What you picked is perfect. Yes summers are had to crochet in also. My hands sweat a lot (last summer not so much) and it's hard to have the fabric slide through when your hands are sweaty. I did finish the little hat and started one of the same in adult size. I need practice in that method so will make a few that required turning while crocheting in the round. I just finished putting soup on. I had poached the chicken yesterday and made broth so today all I had to do was prep the veggies and add more seasoning and cut up the chicken. I also made chicken salad with some of it...I had cooked quite a bit of chicken...and then whipped up a carrot cake which is baking now.I cleaned everything up and am now resting until time to make the cream cheese frosing...of course then there will be more dishes.
|
|
|
Post by choney2 on Apr 25, 2021 0:19:18 GMT
Yes CJ that falling charms quilt is so beautiful. I do like the reproduction fabrics. (Tried to blow them up but could not get the resolution I needed). Think I used two of the reproduction fabrics for placemats. So glad you are pleased with the results.. any plans on how this will be quilted?
Ruth, glad to hear that you finished the little hat. Chicken vegetable soup is so good....Love the way you said you”whipped up” a carrot cake. Now we all know that is Dh’s favorite cake can you make it without the recipe now??
So I checked online and got no wisdom regarding Joanns cutting back on their fabric in the store. The site did note that the name of the store used to be Joann fabrics and now its just Joanns- so who knows what that means. Got a sort of answer regarding AC Moore and it implied that the business model was changing and that at least in the NY area, most AC Moore stores would be taken over by Michaels. Of course that makes no sense as AC Moore was the better store, so they were nuts for letting the weaker store prevail.
Got most done that I had set out to do today. Bushes are planted and I did get the new grass seed watered. I confess to being a bit tired...and will probably go watch some television shortly. Ginny
|
|
|
Post by gramma15 on Apr 25, 2021 0:44:16 GMT
Ginny, all that planting you must be exhausted by now. It feels good to have most of what you planned to do all done I'm sure. Yes I've been making this carrot cake for at least 40 years so don't need to look at the recipe anymore. I even had a coworker back in NY ask me to make her one to serve her guests on Christmas. ( I didn't need something else added to my last minute Christmas chores but did it anyway because she was such a nice person) A lot of people have asked me for the recipe. I've altered it over th4e years to make it lower in sugar and fat.
Got interrupted in my "resting time" so did a few more things and now the rest of this evening is all mine!! However I should write a few letters. I can't believe all the people I know that don't have a computer
|
|