My 30's Quilt - A Better View

I think it is funny how sometimes it is hard to take a picture of somethings and actually capture the colors of it. Here are two photos of the quilt top that I am working on. The first photo is the one take with my cell phone:

Now here is a photo of it using my camera. And with my camera - it seems like it made the yellow seem a bit more vivid in some of the photo - but the colors are brighter than this photo above for sure. So I wanted to share them both and that way you would get an idea of what the photo actually looks like. I don't think I have enough of the floral fabric on hand to get the border done this week but I might try and at least see how far I get.

My cats crack me up - they really believe that I make these quilts for them. I put this quilt top on my bed and Dewie was on it within seconds.

Well we have yucky weather here in Texas again today. Ice/Snow and schools closed. I am so glad that I do not have anywhere that I have to go. And I am glad that we had a few really good days in between the last bad weather. I was able to get groceries and chicken feed. And I was even able to get a trip to two of my favorite thrift stores in the area - only found a slip and a brand new long john top for my son - both for 2.00 a piece.

I have a project in the sewing room that I think I will work on today. It is a long over due project and I might just take some photos and share with you all later today. If nothing else - at least a teaser on the project. :o)

Consequences

Even though I know that it is best to let resentments go, lately I have been dealing with some resentments. Some people in my life have made choices(some recently and some a few years ago) and I am having to live with the consequences. You know -it is bad enough when you make poor choices and then you have to deal with what happens due to those choices but it is super hard to deal with the consequences of other peoples choices. As I was thinking about this and wondering what God would want to teach me from this experience, all of a sudden it dawned on me- Jesus died on the cross - NOT for His own sins. NO - it was for our sins. He had to die because of the consequences of our choices. This, of course, has made it easier for me to deal with what I am going through - but I am sure there is more for me to learn. May my heart be open to hearing the voice of the Lord. :o)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Caught Up/ Quilting Update

Alright - so the good news is my washer finally got thawed out and I was able to get my laundry caught up and I even pulled the sheets off of the bed and washed. The last two days we have had the sun out and about 90% of the snow/ice stuff has melted. We were so thankful for some pretty weather. It looks like we will be getting another round of sleet/ice/snow on Wed.

Oh and of course ~ I got out and got groceries today. I was a bit worried because a friend of mine went to a Wal-mart and was talking about how wild it was and that a lot of the shelves were empty. Well I planned out what I wanted to get from Krogers. I was so pleased with a lot of great deals. Then went across the street to Wal-mart and got the rest of the things that we needed. I was able to get everything that I wanted and the only thing I did not get was the BBQ Pringles for my husband - but I got a great deal on Chex mix so he will be taken care of for a while. Oh and I am not sure if everyone has the same sale but I was able to get Del Monte canned corn, peas and green beans for 26 cents a can! Now I know that Frozen is better for you and fresh is even better, but - it is good to have some of these things just in case we have another round of wild weather - if nothing else it would be good food for my chickens.

So I told ya'll a while back that I was working on my 30's quilt blocks from a Block of the Month - I think from last year. Well I am sorry that I was not able to get better photos and more photos but I did the best I could -with my cell phone.

So first I had to add these extra pieces to each block to make the blocks bigger and set it up for another pattern on the quilt. Just wait - you will see it.

Here is when I had 3 of the strips together.
And I was able to finish it this afternoon.

I think I will probably use the floral fabric for a border and then use the blue for the binding. These photos do not do the colors justice but it does give you an idea of what it looks like. Don't look too closely, because I am not a perfect quilter - I like to say that the flaws on my quilts make them uniquely mine. :O)

Update

I am back. On Wednesday, Papa went over to pick up our granddaughter. Her Mom and Dad were sick, so we took care of her most of the day. And believe it or not we were able to get her to take a nap! When she was a baby we were able to get her to sleep here a couple of times but it had been a while since we had been able to get her to nap here.

Then Thursday night, Papa started throwing up and diarrhea - the same thing that our Son and his wife had been sick with. Friday morning - I woke up not feeling very well. I ended up laying down for a few hours Friday afternoon - hoping that if I stayed still that I would not throw up. And Praise the Lord - I never did. Had a little bit of problems with stomach cramps, a little diarrhea and headache - and being sore. I am feeling better today - I think the fact that the sun is out and we are above freezing has ALOT to do with that.

And since I did not feel very good yesterday I did not eat much - and good news - I finally hit the 40 pounds lost! Yay! I had been in a plateau for about 2 weeks or so and was a bit discouraged but determined not to give up. So now I will get back into my healthier lifestyle.

Oh and a bit of an update on the job situation - I have not heard a word - am I surprised? No - it has been nasty weather here all week. But I went to their website and realized that the job that my friend had told me about did not actually get posted till Feb. 3rd. So tonight I will be applying for it. And then again - I will pray and ask God to lead. :o)

Being Prepared

So today I will share somethings that we have learned during this cold spell we have had - where we have been below freezing temperatures since about Tuesday morning sometime and it does not look like we will be above freezing till about noon or later on Saturday.

I am so thankful that I have a blog that I follow that has shared many ideas on stocking your pantry. Brenda over at Coffee Tea Books and Me has so many great ones that I will not go into a lot of details, but I wanted to share a few things.

We had a decent amount of warning about the bad weather coming to our area. But because of the fact that just a week or two ago - there was talk of bad weather- that we did not get, I am sure that a lot of people thought that maybe this weather system would not be as serious as they said. I know I have lived in Texas for many years and we get at least one ice day a year and sometimes a couple more but as long as I can remember - I can not remember the weather being below freezing and icy for this long of a time period. Schools have been shut down since Tuesday and I do not expect them to be opened back up till Monday. It is frozen out there and the temperatures have not even come close to 32 degrees since Monday.

So what have I learned - no matter who you are or where you live - it is a very WISE idea to have a stocked pantry. Try to make sure you have foods to make at least a weeks worth of meals before bad weather starts. Once the weather hits - your chances of running somewhere for some take out - are very slim. And while you are at it - make sure that you have enough good for your pets. I have been so thankful that I have picked up a decent amount of the cheap HEB canned veggies - that were 3/1.00. Twice a day - I am taking a can of peas and a can of corn plus some hamburger buns and also some spaghetti cooked up out for my chickens. I also have a big bag of some white rice that I had bought or a crafting project I did a year or so ago. SO I have the rice left over -with some bugs in it.That is not a problem when you are making it up for your chickens though. It will give the chickens some food and not go to waste.

I am so very thankful that I had enough food on hand to carry us over till the weather clears up. The one area that I really did not do good is that when I was getting rid of my clothes that were too big - I ended up with 3 long sleeved tops. During the winter many times I am ok with a 3/4 sleeved shirt. But how cold it has been I am wearing long sleeved for sure. Last night I found a warm pj top - made of fleece. That is what I will be wearing today. It is too big - but who care - it is warm and clean.

So just remember when you are shopping and find good deals - you may want to buy a few extras to have on hand - just in case. It is so much better to be safe than sorry. :o)

There is a Reason I am a Texas Girl

I know many of you live in areas that your weather is as bad as what we are going through this week, but please understand that for us- this is the coldest that it has been since like 1993 - or maybe even longer ago - I have not been able to watch a recent weather report.

And also remember that our houses are not winterized like you would living in a much colder climate. So when the temperatures get this frigid - there are many people that have their pipes freeze. Our cold water in our kitchen is frozen now. I am thankful that - that is all.

This morning I woke up to the sounds of chickens clucking- that was really weird cause we sleep with a fan on low for the noise. Anyway I looked over to the clock to see what time it was and saw nothing. Oh no - Power is off. So I get up and check to see what the temperature was at. I looked for an electric bill so I could call the power failure in. After 10-15 minutes of trying I finally got through. And come to find out are area was part of a rolling black out that was going on. Because it is SO cold here in Texas we are using SO much more electricity than we usually do. Anyway they are trying to lower the amount of electricity used and do controlled power outages - to try to prevent uncontrolled power outages. Our electricity was off about 3o minutes +. We were lucky there were some people that had been without electricity for several hours.

I was so thankful for the power when it came on.

Here is a photo out the front of the house. See the white stuff - it looks like snow but nope - it is sleet and hard - in fact the sleet that we have in the back yard is so hard that when I walk on it - it does not break.

After our power got back on - I worked on getting stuff together to take out to the chickens. I boil water in a tea kettle and carry that along with food for them. I pour the hot water into where their water is. And what is so sad is that we have 2 red lights for heat and on the ground it is still sitting at 30 degrees - which means that that water freezes right back pretty quick. So I am going out there twice a day (at least) to make sure they are ok. They are spending most of their days in that shed - venturing out just for a bit now and then.

Please do pray for people in our area - if you would. Because like I said there are a lot of people that have pipes frozen and some without electricity and don't forget about the homeless. It is brutally cold out there. - It is cold in here. We have a fire place put we do not have a blower in it - so the heat stays in that part of the house and then other places in the house are chilly. And don't get me started on stepping out from a shower. Anyway prayers would be appreciated - it looks like we will be below freezing till Friday afternoon at the earliest maybe even Sabbath afternoon. :o)

Snow and Cold Here in Texas

Yesterday was a pretty nice day - kind of overcast but the temps were in the mid to upper 50's. My son and I spent some time getting wood brought into the house and also on our wood wagon that is in the garage - ready for when we need more wood. We also put some wood outside the back door. As the evening progressed it really seemed like the calm before the storm. It was so nice and quiet. It was still about 48 degrees when when I went to bed.

But all of that changed in the middle of the night. By about 3:30am - I could hear it raining big time plus lightning and thunder. I got up and checked the temperature -it was 33 degrees. Well I knew that the lights needed to be turned on for the chickens. But I was so glad that I looked out the window to see if I could see the red glow of the light coming out of the coop. I would not have to go into the cold sun room to turn the light on. I got back into my warm bed and went back to bed.

This morning when I got up, it was 19 degrees. I looked outside and we already had sleet and snow all over the ground - not 100% coverage but I would say about 85% coverage. I looked out the front window and saw that the road out front had a nice thick layer of sleet/snow. And NO traffic - which is very unusual since we live on a pretty popular road that leads straight out to a major hi-way. I was so thankful that no one in my house had to go to work. This is one of those days that you just do not get out unless you HAVE to.

I looked out towards my chicken coop and even though it was very close to the time that I normally let the chickens out every morning - there were hardly any chickens in the dog run.

So I knew that I needed to get water and food into the chicken coop(a small shed). So I started boiling some water - the water would be frozen solid. I cooked up some spaghetti for my chickens.

So I headed out to take care of my girls. I got to the first gate and the latch was frozen. I poured water over it and was able to get it to move. Then I tried to get the door to open and it was stuck at the bottom. I tried to get the snow moved from in front of the door with a shovel. And finally decided to ask my son to help me. So he helped me get that door open plus the gate to the dog run. I put the food inside the dog run(usually I spread it out in their yard to either side of the door to the dog run). But I knew that they would not be wanting out of the dog run since they were hardly wanting to come out of the coop. I got the water and food moved to inside the shed. My poor girls - the shed is not very big but it has heat lamps going and hopefully they will not freeze.

The sun has come out and the temp has come up some saying it is about 24 degrees out there but the wind chill is sitting at 8.6 - That is cold.

The weather guys are saying that it will get to about 9 degrees tonight and 10 tomorrow night. Wow- we are not used to this kind of weather here in Texas. But we are dealing the best we can. I am finding some things that we will need to do to keep some drafts out of our house - once we get out of this freezing weather.

Oh and they are also saying that we will not even get out of the freezing temperatures till Friday. And then they are only saying that it will get to 34 degrees.

And I think that I have shared with you all before that my washer and dryer are out in the garage that faces the NORTH. This means our garages is COLD. And so I don't get to do laundry till it is above freezing. And I am not sure if that 34 degree will be warm enough to make it safe to do laundry. So I may have to wait till Sunday to do laundry. That will be hard on me. I do not like to let my laundry pile up. And I like clean clothes. I like to wash my towels and night gown after just a couple of uses. But you do what you have to do.

So I hope that you guys are all staying warm. Apparently it is Cold and yucky in a big part of the country today. Keep warm and home if at all possible. :o)