After speaking with “Jeff” yesterday I was able to download my service. Yup, they sent me home with a phone that was not set up to receive a signal! He wondered when I had powered it off last and I repeated that I had only gotten it about 36 hours ago and there had been no reason to power it off. You can’t believe how much better I feel since so many of you shared your Verizon troubles. It’s not just me!
This is my afternoon.
Do you ever stew about what you’re going to work on so long that your free time is gone before you ever start sewing? I am guilty of this so today I grabbed a stack of fabrics already laid out together (my favorite thing to do) and a simple pattern and started cutting. I’m watching a movie and sewing – on the porch!
This was Hazel not too long ago.
Oh, those little green stickers are the worst to get out of her hair and she doesn’t like it either! Right after I finished combing her she ran right back to the same spot! I followed her and pulled up all those particular weeds.
No pumpkins this year – no rain so they look like this. Sad.
Making progress with gray kitty – look at that beautiful fur! I haven’t touched her yet but she and I can co-exist in the shop quite easily.
Picture from online – I love this red chair! No furniture store around here has anything close. I’m on the hunt for some new furniture before we’re locked in the house again for all those winter months.
Just now I was going to click on “publish” and I got this from Donna – I just love this! Is this a jellyroll pattern, Donna?
Tuesday is August 1 – have you finished your July Dirty Dozen project?
Hi Mary, Donna’s quilt just dances! Great work! I saw my neighbour, s cat yesterday, he has a toyger cat (combined word tiger and toy)rich chestnut colour with stripes, very friendly.
After a sunny weekend we are back to showers in New Zealand. Hope to put binding on my quilt today and stitch it down this afternoon. Take care everyone, best wishes from Sandy
Rose in IL – I love your quilt! Would you share the name of the pattern? Maybe someone else knows the name. Looks like it could be jelly roll friendly? Thank you!
I hope to finish the binding tonight and hang my Country Threads pattern quilt! I ordered it quite a while ago and found it at the beginning of May. It will be a surprise for you, Mary🙀😀. I am wondering if Verizon had better service when they started out? I had them for a while a long time ago, but Consumer Cellular is cheaper. Not as hot here today—82* and lower humidity. I have read Oh Susannah twice. I didn’t remember that she was only 1lb 9 ounces! Tiny. Our great nieces were 2.8 and 2.9, also tiny. Enjoy your afternoon of sewing.
Diane – I think that’s why her mama rejected her – she wasn’t big and healthy like her sister. Oh, she was the cutest thing I’d ever seen!
Mary I love all your pictures but especially your porch. So relaxing!. My pumpkins look about the same and water them in dry CA. What’s up this year with the gardens.
I envy you your screened in porch. How idyllic! My parent’s house had one, and we lived out there all summer. My cats are getting those little green stickers in their fur. They are a nuisance. We had three inches of rain Friday night. A nearby town had four-inch hail; it was quite the storm. You mentioned stewing over what to sew and wasting time doing it. I was just doing that exact thing before I read your blog. I don’t know what to work on first. I just need to pick something and start! Both quilts are beautiful. I guess I will go and decide what to work on. Have a good rest of your day.
Yes, I used a jelly roll but I also had some 5 by 10 rectangles. The fabric is Sunwashed and the jelly roll had five strips of 1 inch gingham that was not cut very straight and I did not use them. I did not use a pattern, just made lots of flying geese and then played. I am now playing with the left over strips. That broken dished creation will be shared later this week.
Glad you finally got some good help from Verizon. I miss the days of landlines for so many reasons!
What is the name of the plant by Hazel? I sure wish I had your green thumb and porch! Thank you for sharing your life. ❤️
Kathy B – the pinkish flower is called prairie mallow, sometimes it’s called miniature hollyhocks. When we got married, Rick’s mom gave me a tiny pill bottle full of seeds. They are very plentiful this year – they come up everywhere. IF they go to seed before it freezes I’ll save seed and let the readers send for some if they want
Thank you 😊 I would love some of the seeds.
SO GLAD you got the phone issue resolved. Stuff like that just makes me want to scream!!! Why can’t anyone just do their job so everything is such a production??????
Lynette – my screaming came out as crying! In the store! With everybody staring at me – everybody except the Verizon employees!! They were still ignoring me.
Your gray kitty reminds me of my stray that showed up maybe 3 years ago. I call him Boots as he’s black with white paws that look like boots. He took a long time to even be brave enough to come in the barn to eat with the other cats. Then he made his way to the haymow & when I went up to feed the rest…he would go hide but still keep an eye on me. This game went on forever. Then one day I was petting Ralph & over came Boots so I reached out for him to sniff my fingers. Shortly after that he let me barely touch him. And before I knew it….he wanted me to pet him! He still has his moments when he acts afraid of me if he hasn’t been home for a few days but then he wants just as much attention as the rest of them. I had almost given up on him…but now we’re good friends! I love my cats…just wish the dog did as well!! She knows she’s not supposed to bother them but the temptation is strong most days!! So be patient with your kitty….he will come around one of these days!
I really like the “FINCH” project too – cute!
Yep, I sometimes can’t decide what to work on and then my time is gone – I like your method. Maybe I’ll try that for my next free moments. I have a backing spread out, ready for the batting and top and should “just do it”!!
It’s pretty warm here, not hot, and there is a storm north of us; we’re staying inside and enjoying an afternoon of laziness on our 40th anniversary.
Gail – Happy Anniversary! I like the way you celebrate!
I love Rose’s fall quilt. I have lots of fabric stash with several pieces that lean toward autumn colors. So, I pulled the picture into my “maybe make someday” folder. Great news about the gray kitty and the phone. Can’t imagine how they let you out of the store without doing the basic of making sure it worked.
The weather is so much nicer today – lower temp and humidity and a breeze. Yes! I love days like this. I don’t have a screened porch, but I have a covered deck with a porch swing and it is great to be out there.
Vicki – they didn’t have a choice – I grabbed the phone after he said it was all transferred and left!
Mary, A decent sales person would have told you it needed something else to be completely setup. Very poor service.
Love the red chair – more importantly the pile of books beside it! Your gray kitty looks so
much like the gray cat we have been feeding outside for almost 7 years. Don’t know who she
belongs to but she loves hanging around our house. (And you don’t want to get me started on
Verizon!!!!)
Happy Day!
I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one that will sit and look at all the stuff in my sewing room contemplating what to start next to have ended up wasting the entire afternoon! Your porch sewing looks so relaxing……
Jody, That’s not a waste of an afternoon, it’s ‘window shopping’. Enjoy
So glad you got the phone issue resolved! It definitely wasn’t you!
Love your porch!
Buddy is a beauty as is gray kitty!
I finished my July project today! I will send you a photo with details later today or tomorrow.
Take care everyone!
I go with US Cellular, but the problems are the same! I absolutely abhor going to the cell phone place!!
Just got a new phone and they almost laughed at me when they saw how old my previous one was!!
Sibyl – the Verizon guys couldn’t believe I still had a working 7 – why get a new one until I needed it, right?
I have a 6s for which the operating system can no longer be updated. I figure in August I will go for a new phone. Not looking forward to it.
Vicki – take a patience pill before you go!
The plant popping up is that a rose mallow? You sold seeds from your mothers plants at quilt camp! Mine are popping up everywhere yet last year I thought I lost them. Happy to hear phone resolved technology is great😂😂
Joanne – yes! I have prairie mallow all over this year but we had such an early frost last fall that I didn’t get to harvest any seeds. I think they all must have dropped and germinated! Glad yours are growing, too. I should take some pictures of all of them.
I’ve seen people say dryer sheets work for removing the stick-tights but I haven’t tried it myself. Love that chair!
So glad JEFF got your phone fixed. I have had great people and awful people in the Verizon stores, myself.
I love the picture of the chair, but I know if I had it–I would be afraid to sit on it or let Darby our Wheaten nap on it. I bought a couple very comfy wingback chairs on Wayfair for my sewing room and my friend loves them as much as I do. I paid about $200 each and figured when they were warn and cruddy I did not have to worry about getting something similar. I have had them 4 years, use them often and they still look new. The arms are a great height for handsewing. My friend is 5ft 2 and I am 5ft 6.
Have a good Sunday
Not quite as elegant, but I found this on Wayfair. I have had excellent luck ordering from them. Shipping is free.
https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/andover-mills-pitts-34-w-armchair-w004143468.html?piid=2121603886#seemoreoptions-8o935ba8y3w
I am so pleased to report that I finished the main body of my July DD project. Still have an appliqued border that goes all the way around to do, but after 4 years of off and on working on it, I am close to a finished top! Redwork embroidery, applique and pieced blocks, a Block of the Month by Bunny Hill designs.
I am so glad your phone is working, we went through some of your issues last fall switching to 5G phones. I laughed when I saw Hazel with the green stickies, my husband had those on his jeans today, life in Iowa!
I am not happy with Verizon BUT I had ATT and was in the mountains of NC with horrible reception and I am in the middle of the parking lot trying to console my deceased friends daughter with fire ants eating me feet and legs and there I was watching people sitting on the porch rocking and talking. When I got to the porch I asked what service and they all said Verizon and when I got home I got Verizon. So been messing with them ever sense. Not happy but happier than when I was withATT. So I guess name your poison. Once issues are resolved happy until next issue.
Got my book yesterday and it was so well written and someone so dear.
Angie – I agree with you – problems with any carrier! So glad your book arrived! She was so dear to my heart!
Buddy looks just like my Buddy. I bet he belongs to Diane in Ohio. So cute As are all kitties to me.
I have a border left to add to my July DD but I got sidetracked today with a charity quilt needed. It’s comfy sewing this afternoon with windows open with low humidity and cooler temps. Hope you had a good afternoon of sewing.
Hi Kathy, You are correct; Buddy is my Buddy! I took him for grooming and the groomer did a great job. She cut lots of hair off, but was impressed that I had kept him brushed so no hair balls or clumps. They are great kitties aren’t they? He is a lover of laps, petting, and brushing😻
Julie B – I will! I was there years ago and it’s a lovely store – I had forgotten about it.
Mary, I just finished my July DD. I’ll send a picture. This quilt was supposed to be the baby quilt for my great grandson who is now 3 years old. Needless to say I had to make it bigger. Lol
Glad you resolved your phone issue. So frustrating.
Glad you have the phone worked out. Oh, that Buddy is adorable 🥰. Pretty grey wild kitty, is the tuna still working? 😻
Pamela – we moved from tuna to canned food and I’ve worked out there a lot so that now the grey kitty gets very close to me, sniffing my feet and actually jumping into the chair space behind me. Much progress! Rick says pretty soon she’ll be all over me and I’ll be annoyed. Ha!
ahh, the red chair is lovely and so inviting. I hope you find one like it.
Donna’s quilt is such a happy design and color layout. The binding is
a perfect foil for it.
Enjoy your porch quilting! What a treat!
Love the quilts! Rose, you’ve inspired me with your quilt. It’s beautiful, and what a great way to use up fabric. I have tons of “autumn” yardage and have been wanting to make something with it but couldn’t come up with a pattern I liked. Your quilt fits the bill! Hope you don’t mind if I do something similar?? I need an easy piecing project as I’m so far behind on my projects list!!!!! I’ve been organizing and trying to make my sewing room more user friendly (for the last 6 months!!!) and am finally seeing the finish line. Still a mess but I’m almost there. Don’t think I would have ever started in on it if I’d known what a job it was going to be! But now I’m excited because of your quilt. Thank you!
Hope everyone is staying safe, what with all the flooding they’re having in many areas and the extreme hot temperatures in so many others. Plus the mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus … I have to mention we were driving yesterday on our weekly grocery run, on the interstate, which is usually a 1/2 hour trip and found ourselves sitting for an hour and a half in stopped traffic (in 90+ temperature) before we got to the scene of an accident between a big truck and a smaller car. The car was totally destroyed by fire (just gutted) and the truck was quite badly damaged, but we didn’t see any one hurt. The surrounding hillside was burned to a crisp, with fire fighters still using their hoses to combat the smoldering trees and ongoing small fires still filling the air with smoke. Emergency vehicles of all types were parked haphazardly on the hill and roadside. It really brought home how quickly life can go from everyday “normal-ness” to something very scary and threatening. SO – everyone take care and stay safe out there!
Take your chair picture down to Redeker’s in Boone, IA. They can help you create a chair like that. Their salespeople are very talented. (Madrid exit off of Hwy. 30; about a 1.5 hour drive.) They sell Smith Bros. furniture which is extremely comfortable. Good luck in finding the perfect chair.
I love that red chair! If you find it, let me know where. That looks like a fantastic place to sit and read when it’s cold and snowy outside…….or any other time.
My quilts are all at the state fair. I have one quilt to add the label to and it can go to its new home. Now I can see what else is in the ‘you need to finish this’ pile.
A perfect day—sewing while watching a movie, with a beautiful view.
Mary.. yesterday I got to read Oh Susannah to 4 of my 6 great grandchildren. They loved it. Sat pretty still considering it was a birthday party for 2 of them. Then after awhile they sat on the couch and read the pictures again. They love the pictures with the goat in them. When I was reading it to them one of their parents (my grandson and his wife) were just as interested as the children maybe more so. Great book Thank you for making this grandma’s day!! I forgot to mention that their ages are just 4 and under.
Brenda Ks – my hope is just that – after the kids have heard the story they can retell it by looking at the pictures. I’ll post the picture – very sweet!
I love how healthy Grey Kittie looks.!!! He/she will be your pal soon.
Smith Brothers furniture is good. quilts are great.
Now we all know who Buddy is. Gray kitty looks like she is settling in.
I basted a table runner without sewing on the border. Ugh! Had to piece the backing scraps back on. Wonder where my brain was. All just barely worked. Had to use new batting because I had spray basted it and it was too sticky to sew more unto it. That is how my day is going!
Glad you have a working phone. The young have no patience helping us Seniors. Wonder how they will be treated when they are our age. Doubt they will be know it alls then.
MmMonday July 31st here in Idaho! Check your calendar please!
Sorry about the Pumpkins, Mary!
Loved the banana split joke…
Was 53o up here this morning…need to check on Hayden Forest fire!!
Launa
Launa,
Mary wrote this blog post yesterday, Sunday, so her date is correct!
Jeanine – thank you for having my back!
You are welcome!!
Hi Mary-
I got the book you sent a couple of days ago. Thank you so much for signing it! Have read it and looked at it a few times now. It is a great story and the pictures are wonderful. No grand children to read it to yet but you never know…my daughter is getting married in September so fingers crossed it won’t be too long. Also – so sweet of you to pop in the quilt pattern for me too. Thanks!
When I saw the picture of the red chair, I just knew you were looking for one. Then I read the comment and, yep, you’re on the lookout. It is a beautiful chair.
So glad you’re back in communication with the world.
One thing I learned today…the VA is only medical…benefits are another ballgame. No relation to each other.
Oh, well.
Jo in Wy – what does that mean for you?
I love your porch! We have a porch also with windows we open, but it’s too hot now to sit out there and sew. In the winter it’s too cold. Hmmm. So it goes. Then on a gravel road and it is windy and dusty. Not a good scene. We do sit out there and enjoy the birds singing in the evening and sometimes coffee in the morning, speaking of birds, I wonder if the wrens have left. I did not here the chatter this am.
Went to my fav quilt shop in Dell Rapids to pick up a couple quilts and find some fabric to match a quilt I was working on for a border. On to Costco, and the drug store for meds and out for lunch. We went to the Barrel House for pizza. They have great burgers etc also, came home and sat in my recliner!
If you find that red chair somewhere, please let us know. I think there are plenty of ladies that want one! Haahaa! Me included! So, what is the gray kitty going to be named? I like Smokey! Have a great evening…the last one in July! Wow! Where did that go?
Joy – I don’t think my wrens have left yet. I’ll tell you the secret of my porch. Just by default my porch ended up on the northeast corner of the house where I welcome the early sun long before it’s hot. Throughout the day it’s warm with no direct sun and in the hot late afternoon the sun is behind me keeping the porch cooler during the hottest time of the day. Now I would take credit for this brilliant idea if I had done this on purpose but that’s just the way it worked out. It might have been God’s way of knowing how much I’d love sitting in my porch !😉
Mary,I get a lot of my living room furniture at Brick Furniture in Mason. They are uptown by the park. They have tons of different fabrics to choose from and you can take samples home. Customer service is excellent. Highly recommend them.
I feel your pain about no follow up from hospital. Although Bob did not have surgery, I feel we are left in limbo with his recovery. He is doing much better but needs lots of naps.
Mary, I would name your kitten Mercy. ♥️