Bad Times Continue

Well, I thought the fish dying was bad enough, but today my cat died. We think that he ate some leaves from my house plant and got poisoned. I rescued him from the shelter after having to put my Rottweiler to sleep 5+ years ago. I had sworn off dogs because it broker my heart when I put her down. I had one cat and decided to rescue another to hang out with her. She was very lonely after the dog passed. Well, now I'm catless. I think I'm going to stay that way because I don't feel that I gave the cat the attention he deserved. Its hard for a cat in my house with the 5 dogs who could eat you at any second.

This pic is of my kitty and my ridgeback taking a nap together. It was super cute when they were snuggled up together, but when I took the pic he decided to get out there. I will miss him!

On a lighter note, I got my hair cut last night. I look like a completely different person. I'm totally loving it. She cut it into a bob and its short. Lots of highlights. I keep playing with because I have to get used to wearing my hair down again. I went to a salon called Divinity Design Salon in Jackson. They are a little pricey, but it was worth it to me. If anyone is looking for a new stylist let me know because if I send referrels I get $20 off my visit. My stylists name is Michelle Lyke. She is great. I'm so happy that I finally found a new stylist because my hair was in desperate need of some attention.

The other big news of the day is - WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT! Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, but hopefully President Obama will be able to make some positive changes for this country. The previous president didn't do much in his last term. I'm hoping that Mr. Obama can live up to his promises and turn some things around. The American people need a change and lets all hope this is the right change.

Bad Week

I haven't gotten much sewing done on my Double Delight this week. Its been pretty rough. The weather has been horrible. We had three days with the temps in the negatives and highs in the single digits. Our farm truck (diesel) had the fuel gel one morning, so we had to walk back to the house (almost a 1/2 mile) in the freezing cold. For the most part the animals have done well. We had one calf die Tuesday night, but he had been sick for a couple of days and we didn't catch it in time. We tried to save him once we realized what was going on, but it was too late. I'm also have horrible luck with my 10 gallon fish tank. Some how my fish got ick, even though nothing new has been introduced into the tank. I've been treating the tank, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I had 5 little cherry barbs die and then today my expensive pleco died. I'm at my wits end.

Tomorrow is MLK day, so I don't have to work. I'm looking forward to having an extra day off. I'm hoping to get some sewing done. I'm still working on the 9 patches. I got some done during the week, but they seem to be never ending. I'm hoping my top turns out as nice as the ones that I've seen completed. It is a very pretty top, but I don't have a vision of what mine will look like when complete.

Oh, Its Monday

The weather is about to make a significant change here. Tomorrow our high is going to be 9 degrees with the wind chill around -15. I have concern for the horses and cows. Tonight I bedded the horses with extra straw, so hopefully that will help. Its going to be ugly until Sunday according to the weatherman. This weather could cause some major issues for everyone.

I haven't made it to the sewing room since getting the two blocks done. I'm hoping to get some time within the next couple of days. I didn't make it yet tonight, so I probably won't get any done today.

I bought the new Janet Evanovich book "Plum Spooky." I love her books especially the Stephanie Plum series. I've been spending my free time reading it. Last night I stayed up very late reading, which is a no no. Bad timing because it takes away from my sewing time. I'm sure I'll be finished with it in the next couple of days.

Couldn't Stand It

Okay, I just couldn't wait to make the block in the next step. I really wanted to see what it would look like with the previous block. I'm still working on sewing all the nine patches which is going to take quite awhile. I just wanted to get a pic posted of block in step 5. Let me know what you think!

Block finally made

I finally got a block made from step 4. I only made a couple of the nine patches to see how they would go together. I then put together one of the blocks. It looks okay, but they are kind of a pain to put together. The nine patches are going to take me awhile to get finished. I have to make 130 of them. They are turning out to be bit bigger than they are suppose to be so I'm having to trim them. Overall it doesn't look bad. I need to get a few more nine patches made so I can make a block from step 5 and see how they look together. Its nice to be done with the cutting and little piecing. Can't wait to get the blocks made.

We got quite a bit of snow yesterday and last night. I had to get the snowblower out this afternoon to clear a path for the DH to get up the driveway in the car. We are suppose to get another 2 to 4 inches tomorrow night. Then it is going to get really cold. Wednesday, Thursday & Friday the highs are only suppose to be in the single digits and in the negatives overnight. I guess the generator is going to get a good workout those few days. I'm really not looking forward to the extreme cold. Its hard on the animals and hard to keep water from freezing even with the generator running.

Still Working on Mystery

I finally completed step 2 on the NYE mystery from Quiltville. I've been working on step 3, which is making 9 patch blocks. I've got my strip sets sew together, so now I just have to get them all cut. I cut up the light/pink/light and found that I need to make another strip set. It seems that either I didn't follow the directions correctly or the number of light strips is off. I haven't cut up the pink/light/pink yet, so maybe I made one too many of those sets. I think I'm going to be one or two short on those sets as well. I hope to have a few made tomorrow, so I can post a pic here.

We are up to 19 cows now. It seems that 4 more moved to our place on Monday. One I knew would be coming, but the other three came as a surprise to me. They seem to be doing okay, but this weather is hard on them. DH gave them some antibiotics last night, so hopefully that will help them to feel better. Its always hard when livestock comes from an auction. You just never know what they may catch or bring home with them.

It started snowing last night and hasn't stopped. They say we have a couple more hours to go. I'm not sure how many inches we have, but I have given up on clearing the driveway. I didn't go anywhere today, so the drive doesn't need to be clean. The DH is at military duty, so I don't have to worry about him trying to get home till tomorrow. My DFIL has already said that he will come take care of it in the morning.

Snow Again

Sorry to have been away for so long. I was off for the holiday and have been working on the mystery quilt. I'm still working on step 2. The block is a square within a square (see previous post picture). They are very time consuming to make. I haven't been able to devote all my time to making them, so they are taking awhile. I'm over halfway done with the second group. I can't wait to get them done and move on to the next step. I've been printing out the steps as they are posted, so I now know what the overall quilt will look like. It is going to be very nice when completed. So far, Bonnie hasn't posted the border step, so I'm curious to see what she's got up her sleeve for it.

We moved the 10 gallon fish tank out from under the large tank and put it up on the kitchen counter. DH let me put community fish in the tank, so I bought a betta boy and two girls. I thought I would free them from their tiny dish hell. I've also put a few other fish in the tank including a pleco and cherry barbs. Now I want a bigger tank, so I can have more fish. Alas, we don't have much more room to add more tanks.

Going back to work this week sucks. I enjoyed the 5 days off for the New Year holiday. I think I'm in need of a vacation. I can't wait for May to get here because my dad, DS, BIL, DH and I are going to Hawaii. Our aunt and uncle will also meet us there. I'm so looking forward to the trip. My dad, aunt and uncle go every year. We were invited previously but couldn't make the trip.

More to come later, I'm headed back to sewing!!

Working on the Mystery

I've got all the cutting done for steps 1 and 2 of the mystery. I started the piecing process and thought I would post a pic of my two units. Very tedious work and I have to make 120 of each unit. This is gonna be a long process.

I do like the way the blocks turned out. I can't wait to see how it gonna all be tied together. We still haven't seen what the pink fabrics are gonna be.

Happy New Year!

The new year has started. Yesterday our generator died. We use it to keep the water open for the horses and cows. We went looking for a new one yesterday and couldn't find what we are looking for. It seems there must have been a run on generators. Late last week several thousand people were without power in the area, so that maybe why there aren't many to choose from. DH wants electric start, so that way he doesn't have to go out with me in the wee morning hours to start the generator. I couldn't get our old one to start.

We both fell asleep last night before the new year started. I was trying to stay up, but lost the fight somewhere after 11pm. Oh well, not like anything exciting was going on at that time in the morning anyway.

I'm off to start on the mystery quilt from quiltville. I didn't get a chance yesterday because I did house chores and went shopping. I ended up buying some fabric at Wal-mart for the mystery. I didn't like alot of the fabrics I had, so I picked up a few more to mix in. The first two steps are posted and boy Bonnie didn't make it an easy one. lots of squares within squares, which means cutting lots of half square triangles. Ugh!

I hope everyone has a great 2009!!