I have really enjoyed the chair discussion! I am still thinking – what I do know is that I absolutely have to sit in the chair before I buy it so no Amazon for me and I am a devoted Amazon customer.
It was 55 degrees here today – Hank came to play so Keeper, as well as Hank, is exhausted tonight.
So my cleaning lady didn’t show up this morning – didn’t let me know either so I cleaned. After all my vacuuming, the dogs ran into this basket of dried hydrangeas meaning some re-cleaning was necessary.
So I’d love to send my ex-cleaning lady a text saying she could have at least let me know she wasn’t coming. I have overpaid her every single time she worked, I gave her a two hour cash Christmas gift and each time she came, she left with 2 dozen eggs. Two weeks ago when I was expecting her at 9 she texted at 8:40 saying she wasn’t feeling well and her kids had been sick over the weekend. I think she could have warned me on the weekend – it’s not as if they suddenly got sick Monday morning.
So no more cleaning lady – dang. I hate cleaning. Almost as much as shopping.
I quilted Keeper’s chair quilt this afternoon.
And then I noticed this quilt folded up on top of a cupboard.
I don’t remember what this is. Oh no, remember this monster quilt?
I was so sick of it I folded it up without ever binding it. Ugh. There’s another UFO staring at me.
BUT….drumroll please! I finished this last night and now I’ll quilt it. If I can do that in the next few days, I will have made this quilt entirely in the month of January.
Yes, We Can, America!
I can’t wait to quilt it and have it ready to hang in May.
January feels very long, doesn’t it? Or is it just me?
P.S. I know my cat problem is not unique – thanks for all your comments and suggestions.
Mary – For some reason this one was in my junk Mail. A lot of other emails too. Strange.
I love the quilt, Mary. Just turned out beautiful. You are so talented.
Sorry to hear about your losses, Beth. Hang in there and remember all the good times. It’s so hard to lose pets.
Take care everyone.
Mary, I have a chair that I bought at Walmart years ago. No arms, just a simple office chair. My husband has a couple of very nice mesh office chairs, but I preferred this one. I’ve sat in the bungee cord chairs & didn’t find them that comfortable. So good that Hank & Keeper had a play date! So good for both of them! Keeper’s quilt turned out great. Love the goat wall hanging. The “Yes we can, America” quilt is spectacular! I may just have to order that pattern. Mary, it sounds like your former cleaning lady took advantage of you! How rude to not call & let you know she wasn’t coming! I cleaned houses for years & can’t remember ever not showing up to clean a house. When I quit a job I gave a wk or two notice to give them a chance to find someone else. FB, it’s always a challenge when a fur baby doesn’t get along with others. Hoping you find a solution, but as you said your home is large. But maybe one of your readers will adopt FB??? The over the door hangers for the quilts was a gift from a dear friend. I watch her home while they spend 6 mo in FL. Her quilts displayed this way just gave her home such a nice warm feeling! She was sweet enough to order these for me. I live in a landomenium. I have plenty of windows (16) but little wall space to display my quilts. By using the doors I can switch my quilts out to enjoy more of them!
I love your patriotic quilt; it is just amazing! How funny you found that quarter square triangle scrap quilt. Didn’t you start that one year on New Year’s Day?
It is heartwarming seeing Keeper and Hank taking a break from their rowdy playing. Being outdoors on these sunny days is such a gift.
Good luck with finding a new cleaning person. You really should have one; you work very hard and shouldn’t do it all. Take Care 🥰
Jeanie – did I start this quilt in 2023 or 2024? It was my New Years start, wasn’t it? But what year. I think it’s king size!!!!
Wow, kingsize; that is lots of triangles!!
What are Prosperity Hens? If I knew, I must have forgotten.
I took my 6 pediatric quilt tops to Project Warmth on Monday. I’m not taking my sewing machine anymore as it is too hard getting it up and down the stairs. It was great to see what everybody was working on. All the colors and neat patterns the ladies are making. There is no end to their imagination. So many ideas. All the smiles and giggles are wonderful. New ones aren’t strangers for long.
We’re having a week of 50’s, but it will be down to single digits next week. That’s what we call winter. Just wait and it will change, maybe even some rain or snow. The Stock Show begins this weekend for 9 days. An average of 330,000 people will attend. They have been busy hauling the dirt in for the rodeos and have set up the portable corrals in the parking lot. A lot of stock is held at the fairgrounds. The fun begins. Several years ago a bull had escaped by the Civic Center downtown and a cowboy was working to get it into a trailer. Some kids and Frank and I were watching his efforts. The kids were rooting for the bull!! That kind of thing happens now and in the summer, too. Nobody seems to get excited about it.
Just a note: This morning there wasn’t an email from Mary. I just happened to look in the Junk Mail file and there it was????? The computer grinches” Maybe you should check there if she doesn’t show up in the regular stuff?
I’m sorry for those loosing pets. That is so hard. Mary, good luck tomorrow.
Take care, everybody. Betty in Rapid City.
Betty, You live in such an interesting area. I can just imagine the bull on the loose! Sounds like you’re involved in your community. So nice to see your comments again.
Betty I thought I was the only one who didn’t know what a prosperity hen was!
We talk about going to Florida, but I can’t walk very far and hubby can. Doesn’t sound so appealing when our bodies don’t mobilize like they used to. It is easier to just stay home!
Beth, sorry for the passing of two four-legged family members in the same week. It’s so hard to let them go.
Mary, positive thoughts for your Mayo visit tomorrow. Stay warm all.
Jan
Good morning, Mary. I so enjoy reading your posts although this is the first time I have expressed my thanks to you. So, I say thank you for your time and work to keep us connected. I love seeing your home, yard and various quilting projects. I am writing from Montana so we are also in the middle of winter.
Several years ago you started weaving a rug or place mat with strips of fabric. You had to stop the tutorial you were giving. Do you still have the instruction manual or book that I can purchase? Thank ypu.
Bonnie – yes, the rug book and DVD are still available. Both for $12.00 – includes postage – it’s very easy to mail. Send cash or check only.
Mary, so sorry about the cleaning lady! Ugh!
Love all the quilts but especially the Stars and Stripes! I love the goat one also!
I getting ready for the Michigan kids to come for two nights and attend our grandsons wedding. The bride is still struggling with ear and sinus infection! Talk to you later.
I love the backing fabric on the UFO quilt. And the Yes We Can America! Quilt is wonderful. I’ve been working on some quilt tops and now have 6 ready to be pinbasted and 3 ready for quilting (2 of which are partially quilted). I run in spurts of wanting to piece and wanting to finish projects.
I had a cleaning lady I loved. She needed to get a job with benefits so had to quit. She had a friend who started to clean in her place. Suddenly the friend no longer showed up. Now I have to clean or find someone new. It’s been since the summer and I just don’t want to go through the trouble to weed out those who are wishy washy on showing up. I also don’t want to clean as I know that means back pain. So I just go hide in my sewing room. 🙂
I need a sewing chair for the Iowa house. I’ve been looking at different ones but like you I need to sit in it to make sure I like it. I have two sewing chairs here in Texas as I’ve got two sewing desks.
Susan – your story is exactly like mine – the gal I had needed benefits and she passed my job to her friend who is not trustworthy enough to show up! Now what? After all my cleaning yesterday my arms ache and so does my back but it is what it is. I’m old.
Haha! I love that you hide in your sewing room, perfect solution! I’ve found that if I break chores up into smaller bites it helps. Laundry on one day, bathrooms on another, floors another and so on. Works for me. I try to keep rooms that company comes to picked up. For the most part, anyway! Jan in MA
Love your quilts. UFO seem to resurface and need finishing. Hope you can find a home for FB. I agree January is long, it has 5 weeks in it and has dragged on. February will be short! Prayers for you Mayo visit!
Linda – FB would be such a perfect one household cat! It’s a good thing my house is big so everyone can find a spot to call their own.
Love your Yes We Can Quilt, it’s stunning! Can’t wait to see you finish the Monster quilt, yes you can Mary! Always fun to see Keeper and Hank play. My daughter use to have a dog Riley that 2 neighbor dogs from different homes would come over and bark so he could come out and play with them, that was so fun to see, they would just have a great time running around together and then go back to their respective homes when they were done. When he died they didn’t accept the new dog, it was never the same! What a special friendship they had!
Beth I am so sorry for your unexpected losses! I’m glad you have other pets at home to hug, it helps! Sounds like they had a wonderful life with all their fur siblings!
Drumroll!!!!! Fantastic America, Yes We Can quilt! What an accomplishment!
Having a cleaning lady that you trust is a godsend. Prayers for help for you.
I love it that Hank can come and play with Keeper. My Buster would like that, too. Once I babysat my daughter’s dog for the weekend. He was a puppy and soon my dog was hiding under the bed from all the excitement!
I have had a cleaning lady since we’ve lived here 30+ years. 3 in fact. #1 retired, #2 got a regular job and #3 is with me now. I knew her from church and have been friends with her family for many years so I think I just got lucky!
Family room painted Monday, carpet today, furniture tomorrow. Warm weather and the grands can play outside almost makes January bearable.
LOVE that quilt!
Love the patriotic quilt. You are ready for Memorial Day🇺🇸
I have been purging and ‘thinning’ unused items. I have carpet cleaners, a carpet stretcher and St. Vincent’s pickup scheduled for the next 2 weeks. My stairway carpet & a bedroom need stretched. I have a couple new furniture pieces coming. After back surgery, I need to make a few changes. Once I recover from this, my sewing room is next. It needs a good cleaning and things put back in order. I did work on my cutting table and found some ‘treasures’.
I had a friend who took the month of January and did her spring cleaning. Since the weather was bad, she did painting, cleaning reorganizing so she was ready for spring. Makes sense.
I am pulling/auditioning fabrics for Harvey. Harvey will have a shirt not fur.
Love the Yes, We Can, America! Great job – it’s beautiful 😍 and Keeper will love his chair quilt 🐶🐾
So sorry about your cleaning lady 😡 I had one who did a great job at the start but then after about a year she would have to hurry because she had to go quite a big job, then she had to leave early to go do a big job, etc. I always tipped her and gave her a Christmas gift. She talked so much about expanding her business getting 4000 + sq foot houses, etc that she cut corners and didn’t do what I was asking. I live in a ranch but I felt she was putting down my smaller home with sights only on bigger ones. It got to the point I had to do things after she left because she kept forgetting! Bye bye cleaning lady. Very frustrating! In my area it’s hard to find people ……keep us posted on your next one!
Just look at those wonderful quilts! I can’t believe how much you get done!
I’m sorry about your cleaning lady. I have someone come once every two weeks to do the bulk of the cleaning. She’s pretty dependable, and she’s trustworthy in my home when I’m not here. I cut her slack if she’s behind schedule because it’s so hard to find someone I can trust to be in my home, as well as someone who will do a good job. I have MS, so though I can usually do most of the cleaning on her off weeks, I’d hate to lose her for those days I really need her. I do hope you can work something out with your gal or find someone who does a good job. It’s such a blessing to have that help!
Stay warm. It looks so cold there!
Erin – don’t give me too much credit – I should be cleaning now! Haha! But seriously the days are long with no yard work to keep me busy all day so I sew. That will change in the spring so I’m going to work as hard and fast as I can while it’s winter. And I love finishing up projects so that I can give myself permission to start something new. It’s freeing.
Love the RW&B quilt! I love the hour glass quilt too. My house cleaner left town over a decade ago and I haven’t found a replacement since. I recommend finding someone new before letting her go if that is where your thoughts are heading.
Lisa – I didn’t “let her go” – she left me
Oh, Mary, yes. This year is a stinker so far. We lost our beloved cat, Auggie last Wednesday–don’t know what was the cause–he was sick for 7 weeks, despite normal lab results, normal xrays, normal ultrasounds, just got worse, weaker, less interested in food, and then died. He had a rally and a blissful day, and I thought he was going recover, but no. Two days later he was gone. Then this morning our bright, lovely, funny shepherd Silas–the absolute light of John’s life–woke up feeling downbeat and died 90 minutes later. Not quite 10 years old. We are absolutely stunned and so sad. The rest of the dogs and cats are, too. I know we will just keep going forward, but sometimes it’s so hard. Three losses since November…Well, I hate to be a downer, but I knew you would understand. We chose this life, we love these guys with our whole hearts, but this is wrenching. Thanks for listening.
OMG what a horrible week for you. Losing one fur baby is bad enough but to lose two in the same week is devastating. I’m sending my deepest condolences, I don’t think I could handle that much pain in one week. Thank you for loving them and giving them a good life.
Thank you, Jamie, for your kindness. I just keep thinking that I wouldn’t trade away all the love and happiness to avoid this pain, and it would be a horrible tribute to them if grief is what I’m left with, because they were each so loving and happy. But still. It’s hard, though I know it will get better.
Beth T – I am feeling your pain nearly first hand.
I’m so sorry about the loss of your cherished pets. They bring so much joy and leave such pain when it is time for them to go. You have a good attitude Beth. Hugs to you.
Oh Beth I’m so so sorry for your losses 💔😥 my heart goes out to you! Thank you for loving your kitties and giving them such great care. Hugs
I meant kitties and dogs!
Thank you, Kelli. Our days are so full of love–my lap is so usually so full, even when I’m at the sewing machine. Now is the hard time. I really appreciate the support.
You really have to wonder about people who have their own business but no work ethnic. I’ve worked a variety of jobs and it didn’t matter if I liked them or not, I always gave 110%.
I love that goat quilt and your Yes We Can quilt is spectacular! Lucky Keeper, he will have his own quilt. Always love seeing the Hankster and Keeper playing together.
My Prosperity Hen arrived yesterday, I love it. Maybe I should play the lottery? I showed it to the President of our resident council and he ordered 2 of them.
I hope this is allowed, my lovely niece has two shops on Etsy, one is custom embroidery, mostly baby stuff and the other is crochet items. The first is GigglesNGeeks and the other is TheWhimsicalWebShop. She is a 5 star seller because she cares.
I am making Prosperity Hens right now. I know I can buy them but I have so much fabric and they are fun to make. Using up some scraps. I hope your’s bring you prosperity and happiness!
Mary, I totally understand your situation with your cleaning lady. For years I had the most wonderful lady come every 2 weeks and together we tackled my house, the one in NY, and you know how big a deal that is. She moved out of state and the next person I hired to help spent more time looking around than cleaning so that ended rather quickly. Now I do everything myself and even though it gets very tiresome at times, I just don’t want anyone coming into the house anymore. I do the same down here in Columbia now. I’m finding it hard to trust strangers coming into my homes and good help is very hard to find. Just took my little dog out to pee and the wind here is really building up. Hope I can get back to sleep!
I tip my mailman with fast food lunch cards and my gardener cash 1 1/2 times what he makes. Neither said thank you or even acknowledging they received it. I guess they “expect it”? 🤬
Mary, such a great quilt, looks crisp and clean.
Hope you find a happy solution for FB, such a lovely looking cat. Similar looking to mine. Keep us posted.
Less for more is a world wide problem and topic of discussion. Wages go up, prices go up.
Best wishes for your next trip to hospital.
Yay you finished the stars and stripes quilt top! Love it!
I’ve had a bunjee chair without arms for several years and really like it. Bought it from the container store. Sure hope someone will step up and take FB off your hands. If only I lived closer…..