January 23, 2014

Surprise Supper!

January 23, 2014

This morning my husband started bringing in the potted plants from the yard.  It is due to get very cold here tonight and tomorrow.  I don't think it will freeze, but I had a lot of damage to a couple of my plants from the first cold spell when it also didn't freeze.  I helped Ron get them in and they should all be nice and protected in the garage tonight.  Some of the plants I could carry with my weak arm and others I couldn't.  I am so glad he took time to help me before he left for the office.

At the office, it was slower than yesterday so I did a little work on the area I am setting up for sewing.  Then I started ironing some of the scraps.  If I could just sit down and sew, I would get so much more done.  The process of getting ready to sew takes as much time as the sewing.  The photo is of the sorting and cutting area at home.  I have boxes and boxes of scraps that I love and hate to part with.  I like scrap quilts, so it is time to make some.

I had not taken a lunch to the office today so about 1:15 I went to pick something up.  Just as I sat down to wait for my order, Ron texted me that the telephone repairman was on his way to the house.  As soon as I got my order, I came home and the repairman was already hard at work.  The phone lines are underground here.  That was nice when they did it, over 35 years ago, but over the years the lines have deteriorated and every time it rains, our phone goes out.  This time it has been out for over a week.  The rain was long ago.  So the man said the problem was down the street somewhere but to work on it they have to go in the backyards and if no one is home, they can't do that.  This has been a problem for at least 15 years.  They have put new cables in our yard over and over, but it doesn't solve the problem, or at least not for long.  I do like having the cables underground, but they put them about 1 inch under surface in an area where people love to plant things and have tropical gardens.  This seems to be a problem.

The man worked for a while and left to work at another location.  He came back to tell me it was fixed and left me his phone number in case we had additional problems.  I got one political phone call and then it went out again.  It will ring once and then go dead, or we'll have loud static.  So I called him and got his voice mail.  An hour later I had Ron try and he got the man.  The repairman said he would be here as soon as he finished the job he was on.  That was 4:00.  He never made it back and the phone is still out.

I did have a wonderful time sewing all afternoon!  I tried a new scrap pattern and enjoyed making the blocks.  I got three blocks made this afternoon and hope to work on it some more this evening.  I know not everyone loves scrap quilts as I do, but they have so much variety in them and I love the various colors.  Now, if I can just get one together!

The blocks are 8 1/2" square and I have not yet decided what arrangement I will use.  I expect that I will put fabric between the squares (called sashing) and I will play with the blocks to see what color will look best. 

I rarely have a specific project in mind when I start playing with a new pattern and I don't have a specific recipient in mind, I just start making blocks.

As for my Surprise Supper, do you ever put things in your freezer unmarked?  I did that a couple of times this past fall when I was so busy getting ready for Christmas.  I knew at the time I should mark them, but didn't.  On Thursday evenings we usually go to supper with my mom, but she is at my sister's house.  We were out of town last weekend so I never got to the grocery store this week.  It was time to raid the freezer for supper.  I got out a container that I thought was a spicy soup we like.  When I make it, I always make extra.  So I started heating it only to find out it was spaghetti sauce, not soup.  So the spaghetti is cooking and we will have supper soon.

As for my hearing today, it went pretty well until the phone man tried to call me to tell me the phone was fixed.  I could tell that was the nature of the call, but could not get the details.  I asked where he was and he said he was on my front porch, so I hung up and went to the porch to have him explain what he had done (that turned out not to fix the problem).  My arm is still a problem when I am cutting my fabrics with the rotary cutter.  It is not strong enough to hold the Plexiglas templates still.  It takes work to be able to do it another way, so I still have a ways to go in regaining strength and flexibility, but things continue to improve.