Beware! A New Scam!

I was checking my e-mail before I went to bed last night and received an e-mail from a friend that I usually only hear from a couple of times a year because that's about how often our paths cross. My thoughts were that it was good to hear from her but kind of a strange time for it. Okay. So, I read the message and...........it was a message of distress! She was (supposedly!) in the U.K., had been robbed at knife-point, had all her ID, credit cards and cell phone stolen and was in dire need of help. She had (supposedly, again!) reported everything to the local police. She wanted badly to come home but the hotel wouldn't let her leave until she'd paid her bill so could I please loan her $2500 so she could catch a flight home within the next 12 hours? It had me going for a couple of minutes because I really like this woman and would help her if I could! Then........ I started to realize that there were a whole lot of other people in her life that she'd be contacting for help before my name came up on the list. Besides, she's a smart woman and would have immediately contacted the American Embassy for help. Okay. Got that figured out. Still.............. So, early this morning I got on the phone and called her if, for no other reason than to let her know that her computer had been hacked. Apparently, I was the umpteenth person to call because she immediately told me that no, she wasn't in the UK and no, she hadn't sent the e-mail. (I knew it but it's always nice to get confirmation!) She did, however, mention that it was nice and kind of surprising to hear from so many people! So.............


THE MORAL OF THE STORY............

Be Careful! This looked like a legitimate e-mail from a friend, it got past all my computer security stuff and my spam stuff because it was "from" someone I'd approved and the e-mail itself sounded almost (but not quite!) like an upset, desperate friend who needed help. If you get ANYTHING like this please check it out before you act! I'm very suspicious about these kind of things and it had me going for a couple of minutes!

On another note,,,,,,,,, I'm now typing with two hands -- sort of! I can now use the middle finger of my right hand so typing is going MUCH faster! Huh. I've got another three days before the big bandage and brace come off.  So far so good -- but that's MY opinion........... Greg may see it differently!  (BTW:  He made a GREAT homemade pizza last night!)

Successful Surgery!

Well my carpal tunnel surgery went just fine and now I'm in the recovery stage.  I'm still at the point where I need to keep my arm up to avoid swelling but that should end tonight.  Actually, there's been very little pain -- more along the lines of discomfort rather than pain and that makes it a whole lot easier.  I'm a little bit ambidexterous and that helps however, typing one-handed is a pain!

I'd intended to post these photos before my surgery but that didn't happen.  Guess it's a case of better late than never!  This pineapple is one I've been working off and on for a while.  It started out as a demo block at my booth at shows and I liked it so much and it was fun (and somewhat mindless!) to work on when I didn't want to have to think too hard.  (All I had to think about was light and dark.)  Now I've got 12 blocks finished and I think I'll keep going.  I'm using the top method of paper piecing so the blocks all come out to be the same size.  Boy!  Does that make a difference!  A number of years ago I made a bunch of pineapple blocks using a pineapple ruler..............Not good.  The blocks were all different sizes and there was no way they were going to go together so they ended up wadded up somewhere in the depths of my sewing room..

This wreath is (was!) a Christmas present for a friend that didn't get finished in time.  (Sound familiar?)  I finally got the binding sewn down just a couple of weeks ago.  (You know I've got to be hurting when I don't do my binding because I LOVE doing binding.)  This is made from four more pineapple blocks.  The only thing that's changed is the color placement.  Kinda fun!  I think I'll wrap it up and send it as a Christmas in July gift!

Off The Grid

Once again I fell off the grid with my blogging.  I didn't intend to -- but, as the saying goes, life happens!  I thought I was doing pretty well until I realized that I needed to get patterns to my publisher and they all needed to be re-checked and re-vamped so that they'd be compatible with the publishing software.  I didn't think that would be much of a problem.  HOWEVER.........  almost over night the carpal tunnel that had been bothering me "just a little" decided to become REALLY painful and that curtailed any extracurricular computer time!  I knew I couldn't have the surgery right away so I've been trying to "save" my hand/wrist/arm as much as possible.  However, since I'm scheduled for surgery on Thursday I really don't care any more!  Now I've got some catching up to do!

My friend Rosanne and her husband are now living in Italy - which in itself is pretty neat.  Not long ago I received an e-mail from her with this photo attached.  Here's the story.  Quite a while ago Rosanne purchased a pattern and kit to make my Red Hot Leftovers quilt.  Honestly, it was so long ago that I'd forgotten she'd done that!  She took the kit with her to Italy, pieced it there, brought it back to Iowa at Christmas time to have it machine quilted and it's now hanging in their apartment in Italy.  Wow!  Not only does it look nice but it's well-traveled!  (It's really "odd" to me that something of "mine" is in Italy!  The quilting world is getting smaller all the time!)  Pretty neat!

Then, about 10 days ago I received an e-mail from Sharon in IL asking me about a  quilt pattern that I'd had on my website a while back.  Turns out it was Fractured Stars, which I had on the website as a mystery quilt.  In the course of e-mailing back & forth, Sharon sent me a photo of her quilt, which she made using her scraps.  I really like it!

Sharon also sent me a photo of her friend Tina's quilt -- which is also done with scraps but Tina used muslin for her background.  Looks good to me!  What I think is pretty neat is that Tina reversed one little piece in the pattern and ended up with a pinwheel in the center of her stars.  Who knew?  I think it looks good and I really like it a lot!

Thank you to Rosanne, Sharon and Tina!

Photo Transfer Stuff

I've been so busy working, getting produce out of the garden and just trying to keep my head above water that I haven't allowed myself time to sit down and write anything lately.  This time of year just gets crazy!  Last weekend it was canning apple pie filling -- so that's done.  I've still got hot peppers and the last of the tomatoes waiting for me.  The pepper jelly will be wonderful this winter and I think I'm just going to toss the tomatoes into jars and can them rather than doing more salsa or pizza sauce.  They'll taste good in chili, soup or over roasts this winter.  At this point -- simple is good!

I did manage to sit down at the computer to transfer a series of photos to fabric for a client.  She's making a graduation quilt for her grandaughter.  I had the best time with this project!  We ended up with 15 sheets of photos.  It was fun for me to see the progression from baby to beautiful young woman.  Besides that -- I love doing the photo transfer onto fabric.  It's magic!

Another Good Weekend!

We woke up on Saturday to miserable weather -- rainy, gray, misty, damp, dreary -- the kind of day that most people hate.  I, on the other hand, really love them because they make me feel like staying home and being domestic!  After a couple of cups of tea I mixed up some pork stew and threw it in the crockpot and then decided I needed homemade bread to go with the stew so I made a big loaf of New York Rye.  The recipe is from my friend, Mary LeClerc, and it's SUCH good bread!  So -- with the stew cooking and the bread raising I headed off to my sewing room.  (Yippee!!)  I'd started working on the pieced border for Queenie and I really wanted to get that done.  What a pleasant way to spend a rainy day!  I got the border pieced and added to the quilt, the stew was great and the bread was even better!  All in all -- a very successful rainy day!  (BTW:  The big blob on the quilt is a shadow.  I didn't have the patience to wait!)

We bought a new cardboard scratching pad for the cats.  It comes with a packet of catnip to pour into the little holes in the cardboard -- which we did.  Now we have an addicted cat.  Missy has decided that catnip is the next best thing to tuna!  In fact, she may think it's even BETTER than tuna!

Greg picked some tomatoes for me on Sunday afternoon so I got busy and made up a big batch of salsa. It's going to taste good this winter!

All in all -- a very successful weekend!

Editing, Canning & Queenie

I spent last weekend mostly tied to my computer editing my table runner book for the publisher.  NOT what I really wanted to be doing!  After all -- I wrote the damned thing couldn't somebody ELSE be responsible for correcting the things I screwed up?  (I know I'm being unreasonable but HEY!  I'm an ARTISTE!)  Actually, it didn't go that badly -- I simply didn't want to do it but I promised I'd have it back by Monday sooooooo..........  Got it done and sent back on Sunday afternoon.  I still need to write a couple of paragraphs to be added in -- but that shouldn't take too long.  (Famous last words!) 

I did manage to take a couple of breaks and do some fun things -- or at least things that I actually WANTED to do!  Once of them was to make some Dilled Green Beans.  Since we've got a healthy crop of green beans in our garden I thought it would be fun to try them.  I made four pints and then cold-packed them.  The recipe says to let them sit for at least two weeks before you taste.  Sure hope they're as good as people say!

Earlier in the week I made four pints of pickled green grape tomatoes.  I'm REALLY anxious to give them a try!  The recipe said they'd keep in the fridge if I didn't want to cold pack them so -- in the fridge they went.  These guys only have to sit for a week -- so next weekend I'm going to give them a try and I'll let you know.  I've got HUNDREDS of little green tomatoes and if these are good they may all get pickled and canned!  I'm thinking they might make nice Christmas gifts for those daring enough to give them a try!

After I ceremoniously sent off the corrected edits I celebrated by heading to my sewing room.    I had all the pieces and parts ready to sew together for my Queen's Court (Queenie) quilt so I at least got that done.  I even managed to get parts of the pieced bordered sewn so maybe I can get that added next weekend.  I'd love to sneak some time in my room before the weekend but I've got something every night this week and I know it's not likely to happen.  Anyway -- here's where I am on Queenie.  It looks okay now -- but wait until you see it with the border! 

Queenie

I made a promise to myself several weeks ago that I wasn't going to spend the entire three-day Labor Day weekend working and doing chores.  There needed to be some fun involved!  I managed to accomplish that!  On Saturday evening Greg and I attended a Farm Party at our friends' home out in the country.  We had SUCH a good time!  If you've never been to a Farm Party -- then you've really missed out.  This one was in honor of our wonderful friend Gladys Nekola and it was an absolute blast!  The party was held in their large machine shed (Rex had to move all his equipment and tools!), there were tables set up for eating, a dance floor because there was a karaoke DJ, and so much food it was absolutely impossible to "try a little of everything!"  The family provided pulled pork, potato salad and pasta salad.  Gladys made her famous kolaches and with two pastry chefs in the family you can about imagine the desserts!  Everyone else brought food to share and they actually had to set up more tables to hold it all.  People ate, sang, danced, laughed and then ate some more!  Greg and I had a wonderful time and it was a wonderful way to spend Saturday night.  THANK YOU!

Sunday we attended church, did chores and some gardening and then I snuck into my sewing room.  I'd picked out some fabrics a couple of weeks ago and I'd been cutting away on them whenever I got a few minutes.  Actually, I'd started updating one of my first published patterns (Queen's Court) and it's been so long since I've made the quilt that I got myself thoroughly confused when I was figuring yardage so I decided to make the lap size version to reacquaint myself with how everything went together.  I'd forgotten how much I actually enjoyed making this pattern because the blocks go together so quickly!  I declared Labor Day to be a Sewing Day and got all the blocks finished up.  Now I need to piece the setting triangles and the border and put it all together.  Maybe this weekend?  Here's a photo of some of the blocks.  I think it's going to look just fine.  Now I can't wait to get the rest of it done!