new block

I have finished block 9 of the jelly roll quilt along blocks. I like this block and might have to do a whole quilt top in this pattern. Actually there are several of the patterns that I think would make great quilt tops.

Allergies

This summer I am really hating my allergies. Usually the spring and fall are the worse times with my allergies, but this summer has beaten them both. Last night I went with a friend to her church's revival and something in the church was starting to get to me. I hung in there, even though I could tell I was in for some sneezing and itching later on. Sure enough. The sneezing and itchy watery eyes hit like a tornado - fast and furious. I try to combat it with allergy medication, but am limited by the amount I can take in a 24 hour period. Nothing is working. I can't sleep because I can't breathe and have only gotten a couple hours of sleep that came this morning around seven a.m. This is the second time in the last 6 days that I have had a horrible reaction to something. Even as I write this I am sneezing my head off and having to breathe through my mouth! My eyes are so swollen I can't get my contacts in and am having to wear my old glasses. Which means, since I didn't get my last eyeglass prescription filled for bi-focals, I am wearing my glasses and a pair of readers so I can read what I am typing! I know, it sounds like I am just wanting sympathy and am having a pity party. I'm not, I am just informing you about what I have gone through twice now in a little less than a week. For those of you who don't have allergies, count your blessings. It's like having a really bad cold, the flu, hives and a migraine all rolled into one. Total misery! I guess I will just have to try and work on something quilty so I can feel better.

Games

What is it with computer games? They just suck you in for hours at a time like they are a black hole or vortex or something and no matter what you do you just can't escape them. Even if you are lucky enough to escape them another one latches on and draws you over to it and you are stuck there for another hour or so. I have spent my morning (3 hours) reading facebook and playing a multitude of games. I really have lots of work to do. I know that. It's not even really "work", it's fun and I still can't pull myself away from the games. I know other people have gaming problems. I know this to be fact because I only see their high scores on facebook or they are asking for cherries or treasures of some kind. I see the peoples high scores that play the same games I play and know that they didn't have that same score yesterday. It's an addiction!! Oh, well, it goes along with my fabric addiction. Just another one to add to the pile. P. S. I beat my aunt's score in bejeweled 2 today! She is the only one I think about competing against. As long as I have the higher score at the end of the week, I am satisfied. Now friends, don't get on there and beat the two of us. That just isn't playing nice.

The buffalo roam

This is the start of several hectic weeks to come. Saturday, as I have mentioned before, was our workshop/Bee Friends quilt meeting. We meet from 9 - 3 (or so) and sew, sew, sew, break for the meeting, eat lunch, sew, sew, sew. I got one and 3/4 blocks done on my spider web quilt. I was also the program for the day and told the group about making a portable design wall and what they could do to make their own. We were supposed to make them there on that workday, but there are so many ways to make them that I didn't want to limit anyone on their creativity by telling them exactly what they had to bring before they had the chance to see how to make one. They will probably bring their items and make it at our July meeting if they run into any problems. I just know that I would make my design wall skinnier (current one 2" thick) and maybe taller and skinnier? I don't know. I may have to make one that I am dreaming about and see which one I like best. I do know, from experience, in order for it to be transportable, it has to fit inside your car!! That is the number one rule in making these.

Got off track about the week, I will continue forward. Sunday, I left here around 4 or 5 p.m. and headed to San Angelo. I was needed to take my mom to her doctor's appointments on Monday morning. I get in the car and what is there to greet me? The check engine light. I don't have time for this so I drive to San Angelo anyway. It doesn't overheat. I just didn't have cruise control. When was the last time you took a trip without cruise control? My right leg started cramping from being in the same position about 3/4 way through the trip. I always use the cruise control on trips - even short ones to Midland (20 miles). I remember this happening once before, earlier this year. It seems to me it happened then not long after having my oil changed, too. So, maybe they move a wire and when it moves around while I am driving it jiggles it enough to cause the light to come on. Last time it remedied itself and I am hoping it does the same this time. Keeping my fingers crossed. I get to San Angelo and go to the state park where my mom lives the majority of the year. She is a park host and her RV is where I will be staying the night. Earlier this year one of her air conditioners blew out and earlier this summer the entire electricity to her RV blew and fried the plug to the breaker box. We don't know if there was a rolling surge that caused this or the air conditioner. I go inside her RV and make sure it will be cool enough to stay there for the night and decide it will be after I lower the temp on the one air conditioner she has left and turn on a couple of fans around the place. Now, I am good to go. I have a place to stay and an invitation to dinner.

On the way to my sister's house for dinner, I spot the buffalo. Very rarely do I get to see the buffalo out at the park and usually it is the one single cow that has been banished from the herd.

Tonight, I see about 12 or 13 - I don't count - all along the fence on the side of the road. They are just amazing to watch. My blog name "wallowing" is due to the fact that I live by a former buffalo wallow - where the buffalo used to come as a large herd and lay on the ground and roll around in the dirt. After 1000's of buffalo doing this time after time, the ground becomes a shallow bowl that collects water during the rare rains we get here in the desert. Then the buffalo come and wallow in the dirt and rain water and make the dip/bowl even larger. As a result I live by a beautiful "lake" in the middle of the "wasteland"/desert. Hence, wasteland wallowing. There are two buffalo statues around "my lake" as a reminder that this site once used to be a buffalo wallow. That was the name of the place when I first moved to Odessa and I still refer to it by that name even though they renamed it a couple of years ago to Memorial Garden. It is a beautiful park.

There are several mommas and two new calves that are the lighter brown. There are also a couple of toddlers. They look just like miniature grown up buffalo, but they are a whole lot smaller and skinnier ( sorry didn't get a picture of them or know exactly how old they are. the mothers were watching over them also,). As it was, I spotted the group beside the fence, made a kind of u-turn using part of a drive and headed back to take their picture. Oops, passed by them so I do another u-ey and head back the other way. Now I am on the opposite side of the road and that just won't work. I make another u-ey - just not as good as the first time. This one turned into a y-ey since I misjudged the turn, headed back and went very slow. At this time I have to turn on my signal because traffic is picking up and I want them to know that I am going extremely slow driving by the curb. I pull up next to this momma and she shifts her eye to check on her baby that is following her. I snap her picture and move on to the baby.

The baby is following pretty close behind mom because he/she doesn't want to get left behind or trampled by the rest of the herd. You can see the face of the next buffalo following behind the baby. It was really a great privilege to see this many buffalo. As many times as I have been out to the park, I had never seen so many of them out there and never seen the new babies.

When I was leaving the park Monday morning I spy two wild turkey. However, backing up just a little to try and get a picture of them sent them scurrying off into the underbrush and away form camera range. You probably don't want them on your Thanksgiving table. They looked skinny and stringy. No thanks, I will take my well fed fat tom turkey from the feed lot. I like all the white meat.

Two car lengths ahead were a small group of buffalo, yet again. Not all of them were there from last night and I can't be sure these were even part of last night's group. I can't get as close to them without driving on the grass and I don't want to do that for fear of getting a ticket from the park rangers and also of messing up the grass. (Not to mention the possibility of scaring off the buffalo or causing them to stampede toward my car. Okay, I know they are not going to stampede my car. To do that they would have to break down the fence first and I would definitely have time to drive off before they could reach me. At least I think I would have time)

Not long after lunch on Monday I headed back to Odessa and helped out with the Permian Basin Volleyball League. After about 7 or 8 hours of that I finally make it back home and into my bed Tuesday morning sometime around 1:30 a.m. A couple of back to back nights of that and I definitely know that I am too old to keep such late and long hours.

Lou's 9 patch re-deaux?

Remember Lou's 9 patch blocks? Well, today I took the top up to our monthly quilt group meeting and laid it out on a table so everyone could give me advice on what to do next. Some agreed with me that it needed some color. They even nodded their heads yes when I said I was going to slice it again and add some in the middle of the blocks. A few liked it just the way it was. The final verdict was that I was going to bring it back home, slice it a couple of times and add in some green and then maybe work on the border somehow. That was a plan. However, after the meeting was over and most of the members had left, one member walked over to the table and remarked how she really liked the top. Something inside of me just blurted out, "you want it?" So I gave away my top! It didn't actually go free but it went with the condition that she had two months (that was how long I had owned those blocks) to do something with the top. I can't wait until the August meeting to see what she has done to the top. The down turn (up side? Upsidedownturn?) to that giveaway is, if she can't come up with anything new to add or do to the top in the two months, then it returns back to me. Wouldn't it be funny if she made additions to the top and gave it to someone else in our group in August to add something else. Kind of like an impromptu round robin. Stay tuned.

Nature

I love walking out my front door and seeing the beauty. I planted a bunch of caladium bulbs in late spring hoping for just this look to my front porch area. This is my favorite part about summer. Okay, my second favorite part, being out of school for about 7 weeks is the first part. My least favorite part is the heat. With 100 degree weather most days (95 - 105 degrees) it can get miserable very fast. I know, they say, it's a dry heat, but our humidity has come up several notches in the last 4 or 5 years and it's not as dry as it used to be. I may have to do some research on how and why that happens. We don't get a lot of rain here (7 - 14 inches a year) but yet, it has gotten more humid. Weird phenomenon. Luckily I have central air conditioning and I stay inside the majority of the time. West Texans know that you only go outside in the early morning or evening during the summer time. That type of heat can zap you in no time flat so it is best to stay inside either at work, at home or at the movies whatever your choice during the summer heat. That is really why the yard guys were working so early in the day this week. In this weather you want to get the bulk of your yardwork done early. Which reminds me of a former neighbor. Everyone on my block used to get upset that he would mow his yard about 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. After one month you get used to the wake-up call and just say to your self, " he is up early today." He was always watering and mowing and edging to create the perfect yard. He has moved on and I kind of miss his mowing. No, I don't miss the mowing, I miss the sweet elderly gentleman that watched out for me. The one that worried if he hadn't seen me in awhile or if I accidently left my garage door open. I miss just stopping over there while he was watering and talking about life in general. I hope he is happy in his new life, but I sure do miss him.

Lou's 9 Patches

At our April quilt-in, reference previous post, one of our members, Lou, came in with ten or twelve large (16 inch) 9 patch blocks in orange, brown and various print fabrics. Think mid '70's. They were very dated. She bee-lined over to me and flopped them on the table and said, "what can you do with these?" I gave her several great suggestions thinking, "I can't wait to see what she does with these." Lou is a very gifted quilter and artist. I just thought she had to many ideas and was hoping that I could help her narrow down her possibilities. No, that wasn't the case. After I had made all my suggestions she said, "that sounds good, now they are yours." WHAT? These aren't my colors - okay, maybe the orange - but not the - okay, maybe I am getting to like brown somewhat and am using it more - but, these? They are so dated!! My mother sometimes says I am a child of the '70's, but it's usually because I choose more bright, hip, mod colors and lean a little toward the bohemian. Not because I am into orange, brown and avacado - wait, I like that color, too. uhh. . . .

Anyway, today while the dogs were at the groomers, I decided to cut those blocks apart and do something with them. (Saturday is our monthly meeting and Lou might show up and I wanted to surprise her) I didn't even lay them out and arrange them. Once I had them all squared up, I would pick up a couple of blocks and sew them together. I didn't worry about whether I had too many browns together, I was just intent on putting this top together whichever way it turned out.

Doesn't look too bad in the picture. I haven't decided if this is the end of this top or if more is to come before it gets basted and quilted. The left and bottom sides have that sashing/cornerstone look that is not on the top and right hand sides. It bothers me a little, but I don't have any of these prints to "fix" it. I am thinking about slicing it and adding. I don't know. Tell me what you think.

Jelly Roll Sampler

Sometime back in March or early April I was visiting several different blogs I love to read and ran across this blog, Moose on the Porch Quilts. She had recently started a Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt. Sounded like fun so I printed out the first couple of patterns and realized I didn't have a jelly roll. I knew that I could go through my huge, massive stash and cut strips or even easier, I could purchase one from somewhere. The closest quilt store is in the next town. (okay, it's about 22 miles, give or take, from my front door to it's front door, but it is in the next town) It's now the middle of April, life is getting hectic, so I make the decision to have the jelly roll come to me. I love shopping online. The pleasure of having a package waiting for me when I get home is just exciting. Oops, now I am four blocks behind. Thank goodness my quilt group has what we call "quilt-ins". We start at three on Thursday afternoon and go until 3 on Saturday afternoon. You could stay there and quilt all night long or go home to your own bed and shower and return the next day. It's wonderful! We get so much done in that time period. I knew one was coming up at the end of April and I could work on my blocks and get caught up. Which I was, for awhile and now thanks to this week, I am once again caught up. Here are my 8 blocks for my jelly roll sampler quilt:

NOISE!!!

Woke up this morning to the "yard guys" from the city and their lawn mowers, weed whackers and loud music. (so they could hear it over the noise of their machines). Okay, they really weren't out there at seven a.m., but they were there at least by 8. That is still too early for all that noise. I thought, hey, I have a blog. People are going to want pictures. I will need to take pictures a whole lot more than I ever have before. So, I grabbed my camera and headed outside hoping to get a great picture. Their trucks were parked right outside my gate. I was trying to take the pictures over the fence without them knowing that I was snapping away. I peered over the fence, raised my camer up and snapped. They aren't the best pictures. I forgot about the morning sun.

The top picture looks like he is fishing. He isn't. That is his extremely loud instrument of torture. He is trimming the sage bushes that grow up along the fence that separates my alley from the park. The second picture - well, hopefully you will never get such a horrible picture from me again, but I wanted to show the guys on the other side of the fence, one of them must have ducked down when I snapped the picture. My next thought was, go upstairs! That will be a wonderful picture. However, the glare of the morning sun shining off the window screen prohibited that from happening. At least they were through with the park by eleven and the peace and quiet and birds chirping could once again resume. Good news - I learned how to post pictures to my blog. More to come.

good morning!

Today I have been busy and it isn't even 11 o'clock. I woke up early - or at least early for the summer. It wasn't my school day wake-up call at 5:30 in the morning, but 6:30 is early enough on a great summer day. I had to go to the grocery store and I love going early in the morning. A lot fewer people and most of us there are on a mission to get our groceries and get out. Preferably without anyone noticing that we have on our ratty tatties, no make-up and our hair - well, who knows what our hair looks like since most of us haven't even looked in the mirror yet today.

I was backing out of the drive way at 7:05 heading to my local HEB. And yes, I had my contacts in my eyeballs (on my eyeballs), my usual limited amount of make-up and my summer go to hair style of a single pony tail. Having accomplished the selecting, purchasing and loading my car with my items. I was ready to take care of my coke craving. (coca-cola for those of you not from Texas where we call every soft drink "coke. " "Hey, you want to go get a coke?" "Sure, I'll have a Dr. Pepper!" We used to have "coke" dates in college. You would go out with a guy you just met for a non-alcoholic drink. It was a great way to meet lots of guys without the pressure of having to spend hours with someone you really didn't like after the first 20 minutes.)

I digress, now I am going to change the title to something else. Back to the original morning story: I headed back down the street to the nearest Stripes convenience store, because they have the best ice and I can re-fill my cup for a mere 86 cents. I love getting a bargain. That is probably my Scottish heritage coming out. Okay, since I rambled and you probably want to take a break about now, I will leave the rest for later. But, go to the new flickr button to see what else I have been doing this morning! Sin

Welcome to my blog

This is new to me, but since I have been reading everyone else's blogs for the past couple of years, I decided to jump on the band wagon. Okay, maybe I didn't jump, I really just jogged alongside for awhile and then when it slowed down enough for me, I decided to crawl aboard. I am kind of shy and quiet around new people, but once I get to know you I will speak up and join in. Which really explains the previous "jogging alongside and crawling aboard" comment. I hope you will find this blog to be interesting and will join along on my new blogging adventure.

Hopefully tomorrow I can show you what I am working on - quiltwise. I have gotta learn how to post pictures on the blog. We will see how it goes.