Giveaway winner!

Congratulations to #17 Scottylover aka Ms. Sandy A. Please email me your address and I'll get the goodies right out to you.  

Big thanks to everyone who commented and entered!!  I wish I could send something to everyone but never fear, I'll have another giveaway soon.  And let's all hope it is in celebration for something fun and not for surviving a crazy house electrical fire.

Giveaway ending today

Little reminder that my giveaway ends today at 8:00PM EST. Please comment on Friday, June 24th post! Thanks!!

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Recession Garden: Year Three

It finally cooled down to the high 80s so I spent some time cleaning up and weeding the garden beds.

I have harvested a dozen or so Roma tomatoes, 2 yellow squash, and a cucumber.

The catnip is growing like crazy. Gomez loves it.

This is the first year I've planted cucumbers and I had to disentangle them from the okra. They were growing up the okra plants. The cucumbers have now escaped the beds and are headed east. Watch out friends in Gwinnett County!  Guess I'll be canning pickles this summer.

Weekend Sewing

Because it was another hot, humid weekend, I stayed inside and sewed (well except for Friday night when we had a BIG thunderstorm and lost electricity AGAIN for about an hour or so).

First up was the Civil War Block of the Week.  I've always loved this block--it's called Barbara Frietchie Star--so I picked some of my favorite fabrics to use. 



I decided to start sashing the blocks together in the order that Barbara Brackman has released them.  I had bought some sashing fabric but then decided it didn't work so I dug through my sash until I found ooooooodles of a great purple print.  I was going to use this as borders and backing for another quilt.  I think I have enough to still use for borders and will find a different backing for the other quilt. 



The fabric was designed by Barbara Brackman several years ago for the Conestoga Calico line and I bought oodles of it because it is the Perfect Purple. 

Not too dark, not too light, not too red, not too blue.  Perfectly purplely in every way.

Morpheus, who is Perfectly Purrfect in every way, enjoyed helping me lay out the blocks.

 Here's another view.  I used one of my favorite shirtings for corner squares--it's a slightly grayish off-white with black design and a tiny speck of red to reflect the sashing fabric--subtle yet interesting.

Morpheus is usually not subtle (he likes everyone to know he is around and always has something to say) but he is always interesting and always interested in what I'm doing. 

I also started and finished a project that I was supposed to do before all the house repair craziness.  Carol at Brown Quilts asked if people would help out a friend of hers and make pillowcases for servicemen and servicewomen.  I am more than pleased and honored to help out with this worthy project.  I sewed these up and off they went to Carol this afternoon.  Love and gratitude in fabric form. Perfect. 

It's a Special Friday

Today is the day to comment if you would like a chance to win the

We Survived the Crazy Electrical House Fire of Friday May 13th, 2011 Giveaway

If you are just tuning in, I had a super crazy-pants, ongoing insane, endlessly frustrating, but we-are-all-happy-to-be-alive-and-in-one-piece experience that you can read more about here and here and here and there's more if you are interested. 

To celebrate nearing the end of all the repairs, phone calls, yada yada yada... I am having a giveaway for you, my blog readers, whose wonderful comments helped me through all the craziness and kept me company in the endless 90F degree days and not-much-better dark nights for 25 days. 

Now for the details:

Giveaway is for nine bright happy fat quarters, three 1/2 yd cuts of pink fabric, a Moda Quilt Pink charm pack, five or so patterns, and the book Clever Quarters, Too. 

Drawing via Random Number Generator on June 30th at 8:00PM EST.

Comment on this post only.

 Since I am all about disaster and emergency preparedness, please leave a comment on your plan for getting your family, pets, loved ones, and/or yourself through an emergency or what you have packed in your disaster kit (if you don't have either one of these, now is your chance!!!)
If you need some tips, here's a link to the ASPCA's disaster preparedness info for your pets.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your profile is set to "no-reply." 

That's it.  Be prepared and be safe!
 

Henrietta Squirrel Block 3

Block three of Bunny Hill's Henrietta Whiskers Block of the Month (yes I am three months behind...)

I just adore plaid wool, especially hand-dyed like the scarf and squirrel tail. 

I hope to get caught up on this BOM before the July block is released.

But don't count on it:)

Don't forget to come back tomorrow to help me celebrate...

Fun Stuff for a Monday

Weekends go by way too fast.  I have too many things I would rather be doing than dragging myself to work for another week.  But of course, work pays the bills so I will muddle through.

Here are some random fun quilty things that will keep me entertained this week. 

Minick & Simpson's Charlevoix fabric.   I have a project in the works with this and I just love this summery wonderful fabric.  It reminds me of Michigan and how much I wish I was there for the summer instead of hot-lanta.

Charlevoix is a resort town on Lake Michigan in northern Michigan.  Michigan is famous for its cherries and the National Cherry Festival is held in northern Michigan in July. 

This fabric also makes me hungry for cherry pie.

I am in LOVE with this pattern by my good friend Pat Wys of Silver Thimble Quilt Co.

Log cabin blocks on point with alternating blocks.  This quilt is stunning in person with a large assortment of scrappy reds, pinks, and creams.  I am planning a different colorway for mine and am pondering whether to start it now or be good and finish some projects I have in the works already. Oh I can't decide!!!!  What do you think??









As if the possibility of starting that quilt wasn't enough, I also have this pile of wonderful new project goodness hanging out and tempting me. Some friends of mine and I do fabric swaps.  It's a great way to make a really scrappy quilt with a large assortment of fabrics.  This is our fourth swap and it's for the Bonnie Blue Quilt pattern called "The Long Road Home."  

Please don't ask to see the quilts from the other three swaps because well...I haven't finished started those yet....

We traded fabrics on Friday at Silver Thimble club. I loved seeing all the different ways we each packaged up the trade.  Look at the cute paper bag with the little fabric tie. Some bags have all the pieces separated into other little bags.  Some of the fabric is folded so you can see all the different fabrics.  My package is on the bottom left. I like to recycle plastic bags--most of my bags were from Fat Quarter Shop purchases.  Hmmm what does that say about me?  LOL!

What I Wanted to Post Yesterday....

Georgia Power is not improving their standing in this household that is for sure!  We did have a line of severe thunderstorms roll through metro-Atlanta yesterday evening. However, this happens every summer at least once a week if not more so it shouldn't be a big deal....

About 7:00PM, the lights flickered and I heard the transformer up the street go WHOOOOMP.  I will not repeat anything that was said in my house last night because it was NOT NICE.

Even though we lost power, S. and I made fajitas and sauteed plantains because I have a natural gas stove that works great (when the gas line are not electrified and threatening to blow up your house....)

But I digress. As the night dragged on...in the dark...I was hoping that I wouldn't lose all the groceries that I had just bought to replace the ones from last month....

Seven hours later....

At 2:30AM (yes I was up), the power came back on. Grrrrrrrr....

Here is what I wanted to post.  Simple Times Quilt Along.  The first sewing step was four of the framed four-patch blocks and eight of the stars with four-patch centers.  I sewed some of these at Silver Thimbles on Friday night and finished it up on Saturday.  I spent more time talking and laughing than sewing which is exactly what I needed after all the frustrating insanity at my house.  Laughed until I cried and it was awesome!!

I also made my Civil War block for this week.   An easy block although tricky measurements for a nine-patch to make a finished 8" block.  I used Barbara Brackman's Civil War Reunion fabric for the dark and medium fabrics and found an unknown 5" floral in my box of 5" scraps.  Hope it's correct to the period.  I am trying to use only reproduction fabrics from the mid-19th-century as much as possible for this quilt.

Hello from Ironic-land

Guess what? We had severe thunderstorms in Atlanta this evening.

Guess what else? What area has no electricity because of the storms?

If you guessed my street, you are correct.

No power for 2 hours now.... We are decidedly unhappy.

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Simple Times Quilt Along Catching Up

This week has been chock full of catching up.  Catching up with work, catching up with housework, catching up with errands, catching up with grocery shopping.  I also need to catch up on everything in blogland and quiltyland and who knows what else.

I am also catching up with the Simple Times Quilt Along. I decided on fabric and began cutting and now...yikes they are already making blocks.  .

I am using 1930s fabrics and decided to use this cute cat fabric as the focus fabric and some of the background pieces.  It was hard to cut into this fabric because I have been hoarding it since.....before they put dates on the selvages apparently....but decided to bite the bullet and cut it up.

This is what I told myself as I was cutting up this fabric I have been hoarding since the beginning of time:

They make more fabric. 

Really they do. 

Every year at least twice a year.

And I'm sure I will find more fabric that I like out of the hundreds of fabrics that come out every year.

At least twice a year. 

So that's two-times-hundreds of fabrics.  So I should just sew with it already!  
 There now that wasn't so hard now was it?

I had less difficulty cutting up the rest of the fabric because...well I have oooooooodles of 1930s fabrics.

And I know this because cutting fabric for the quilt didn't put a dent in my 1930s stash.


If anyone is still interested in my saga of house repairs, it is still ongoing but nearing the end.  I did experience an EPIC customer service fail with my phone and internet company.  And by EPIC, I mean EPIC.  Borderline on Georgia-Power-customer-service-fail EPIC.  Needless to say, the only way I can resolve the issue is by getting a new phone and Internet company because I am not wasting one more iota of a second on the phone trying to sort out the problem.  Take that AT & T!!! 

As of next week, AT & T is fired and they better not try to charge me anything because I'll have to go all Scarlett O'Hara-as-God-as-my-witness on them.

OK deep breath. 


I have Silver Thimbles Sewing Club tonight so I'll have something actually sewn together to show tomorrow.  Oh and tomorrow is also Civil War Block of the Week. Can't wait to see what this week's block is.

If you made it all the way down this far, I'll tell you a little secret.

Shhhh... just for those that read my blog and have been living through my crazy house crisis with me....

I'm having a "We Survived the Crazy Electrical House Fire of Friday May 13th, 2011 Giveaway" of some random quilty good things. Come back next Friday for details. 

Sewing: It's Good for your Soul

Today I officially took a day off from all house-related events.  I have a ZILLION things to do and follow up with and people to call and..and...and... But I officially said out loud that I was not doing anything more strenuous than sewing, watching TV, and taking a nap.

And that's what I did. 

Sometimes you just have to make an announcement to the universe in order for it to be.  I highly recommend it. That sounds like a very Zen-Budda-Fortune Cookie statement doesn't it? Or maybe Oprah...

Anyway...I finally got to sew and catch up on the Civil War Block of the Week.  

 This block is called Underground Railroad.  I thought the blue fabric referenced train tracks.

 This is called Blockade.  I love the really weird green fabric.  I think it's a Jo Morton and I bought it to use in this quilt since I think these scrappy blocks need some weird colors. 



Everything can use a little weird (how's that for another Zen-Budda-Fortune Cookie-Oprah phrase?)

 This block is called Illinois Roads. I fussy cut the red to get a traveling feel to this block.

 This block is Ladies' Aid Album.  Even though I used some odd colors together in this block, I think it works.

And this one is New England block.  I really like how this block turned out.


All caught up.  I can't believe I missed five weeks of Saturday morning sewing.  I definitely feel much better.  Back to dealing with the universe tomorrow.

Houston, We Have Air Conditioning

And the cats are overjoyed to not have to lay in uncomfortable positions melting into window sills (Gomez looks so grumpy in this photo).

The past two days I have had to concentrate on my job & get through a big meeting & two presentations in which I pretended that I have done nothing else but prepare but in actuality, I put them together, wrote it all out & just did it without practicing or even re-reading through it. The key is to sound like you know everything & you have it all together even when you don't.

So life is getting back to normal slowly. I have cable TV, A/C, and groceries. Today I hope to have phone lines & the Internet (oh how I miss the Internets!!!) & stove fixed.

Many more little things to get done but today I vow to work on my Civil War blocks & see if the Bernina works.

Our Sponsor

Look at poor Stella Bella. She is zonked out under the ceiling fan & not helping me. That's OK. She's had a stressful 25 days too. We now have electricity & hot water. Everything else is scheduled. No air conditioning yet but we are digging the ceiling and table fans. Life is returning to normal.

Thank you to everyone who commented & lived through this ordeal with me. You all are truly wonderful fabulous people!! BIG thanks to Karin & Becky for the use of their laundry. And SUPER BIG thanks to mom & dad who took many a phone call & helped me survive this. And thanks to Grandma for sending me my mom's b-day money. It really helped me through a rough few days. Hugs all around.

Day 25 at 2:35 PM. We may actually get electricity...

Simple Times Quilt Along!!!

OK house stuff on hold.  Let's get to some super-fun quilty goodness.  I am joining in on the fun with Kelly and Carol in the Simple Times Quilt Along.  If you are not yet a follower of Charming Chatter or Brown Quilts, just click on the super-cute bear button in my right sidebar and it will take you right there (or click on their names above). 

Kelly and Carol are so wonderful that there is even two different sizes that you can choose from or do both and have a Momma Bear and Baby Bear quilt along.

During my recent cleaning and sorting of my sewing space, I noticed that the top for my box of 1930s fabrics didn't close as well as I remembered it did previously.  What is up with that?  Plastic bins shrinking?!? I know it happens with clothes but bins?  Anyway....I'm gonna use some of my 1930s stash to make a Momma Bear version.  Fabric requirements are up this week.  Big quilt on Carol's blog and little quilt on Kelly's blog. Cutting instructions are next week. Can't wait to see all the wonderful fabric choices.

Oh good grief!

I just checked my blog and the long loooooong text about how I still don't have electricity didn't show up just the photo of my hydrangea. What the what? Anyway......

Short version. After calling GA Power at 9AM & being told 3-5 business days there is nothing we could do yada yada yada. I called the state public service commission (PSC) which regulates utilities & filed complaint. PSC sent complaint to GA Power marked urgent. 2 hours later GA Power calls & says they will reconnect TOMORROW.

There's a bunch of long boring tiring needlessly annoying stuff but that's the short version.

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It's Monday How About a Flower Photo?

And Now for a Moment of Levity

The latest fashion here at Chez Crazycatlady sans Electricity is this ever-so-helpful hands-free light source. Suitable for everyday wear, business casual, day into evening, and night out on the town, this hip accessory recalls the headband craze of the Roaring Twenties Flapper Girl and the Can-Do Attitude of Rosie the Riveter. Updated technology provides a variety of light sources including LED spotlight, flood light, and task lighting. Available at your local hardware and discount stores. Don't forget extra batteries.

Gomez Chillaxing

Things I Learned on a Hot Friday Afternoon (continued)

Sorry for the delay. Morpheus had a vet appointment for his annual check up so we got to take a ride with the A/C cranking!! He is doing great & still meowed all the way there and back even though I told him to enjoy the A/C.

Ok so here is what I learned:
1. My patience only lasts 21 days. It may last more if it is not 97F outside and 88F inside. I don't know. Let's not try it OK?

2. Every person at GA Power will tell you something different which may or may not be entirely truthful.

3. Corporations with a monopoly do not care (and don't have to care) about customers.

4. If GA Power causes the initial emergency which causes your service lines to be cut, they don't consider it an emergency to reconnect your lines 21 days later.

4 1/2. In fact they will tell you the following:
A. The person that processes those requests leaves at 4:00pm and there is no one else to get the fax from the city & enter it into the computer.

B. A supervisor told me that it takes 3-5 business days to process those requests because "an engineer has to come out and survey the location and determine the length of the line before they can send a truck out to reconnect service." When I asked why during storms or when trees bring down lines, they don't waste time with engineers & whatnot & just string lines back up, he did not have an answer. When I stated that the old line is laying in my front yard & they can use it for length, he did not have an answer. When I said that they should know the location of poles & lines & whatever else because an Ga Power lineman was out twice on May 13th & surely there are reports, he did not have an answer. When I asked that the reconnect be expedited given everything that happened including the fact that GA Power tried to charge me THREE times the amount of my actual bill this month when I haven't had electricity since 5/13, he said 3-5 business days.

C. When S. called & talked to a different person, that person said that if the request is in & processed on Monday she will send a truck right out to reconnect service (no mention of silly engineers or line measuring).

D. The fact that you have been without power for 21 days through no fault of your own & no act of nature but because of negligent maintenance of service lines at a vacant house that nearly caused your house to blow up or burn down or kill you & S. & the cats or lose everything you own & cause you to use up all your vacation time dealing with this (which you can never get back) & cause you to have to file a claim on your homeowners insurance & pay a deductible, makes no difference to a corporation who has a monopoly on a service you can't do without & who could give a flip about a customer who always pays on time but who is not rich or important or on the corporations board of directors or a political figure or whatever.

5. It takes 21 days for me to lose my patience and post run on sentences!!!

Note: this rant brought to you today by GA Power. We now return to our regularly scheduled blog....
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Things I Learned on a Hot Friday Afternoon

Oh I had my hopes up for the weekend. My electricians worked so hard to get the major work done. Electrical inspector was scheduled, came out, passed the inspection, took it to city hall, & said let's get you power for the weekend. City hall did their job & sent info to GA Power. It was 4:30pm. I called GA Power to get truck to come out and hook up the lines.

Guess what happened?

Have you guessed that this is not a happy, perfect ending yet?

Have you guessed that my dreams of having a refrigerator, hot coffee, lovely cooling fans, and my sewing machine for the weekend did not happen?

Have you guessed who's responsible?

To be continued...

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Judy's 2011 UFO challenge

Yes I have failed again! My May UFO is not done. Score is UFOs: 4
ME: 1
Although it's not really my fault because I haven't had electricity since May 13th. That's 19 days peeps if you are keeping track!!! (oh and I for one am keeping track)

I know I should really quit whining about this but it's either this or how blasted hot it is today. Neither topic is fun so let's see what else is new.

Recession garden is doing good will post photos when I figure how to do it from the phone.

Cats are fine. They are stretched out trying to stay cool.

I have a very hip new fashion trend to regale you with (photo needed too)

I did not finish or even start the Le Petite for May:(

Oh and June's UFO is in a messy pile under lots of stuff (maybe I'll post a photo of that too!

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