Oven Woes...and Moving Right Along

I have a double oven. About a year ago, the lower (larger) oven stopped working. Since I use my oven nearly every day at least once, sometimes for a good part of the day, this was very difficult. We couldn't afford to fix it, though, and I consoled myself with having the upper oven, small though it is. Last week, our oldest got home from work and put a frozen pizza in the oven, 15 minutes later he went to check it for doneness and it was still frozen. Darn. Oven number two is gone, also.

I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with the bottom oven, and the same thing appeared to be wrong with the top one. While I had hoped that we could get a repairman out, since working with electricity and gas is not usual for me, I was having a really hard time knowing it would cost such a large amount of money for something I might be able to fix myself. I poked around online and found the needed part, and read the comments from others who bought it. I was encouraged and, with a quick check with my husband about the budget, placed the order.

Imagine my surprise when it arrived the next day! Of course, that meant I had to take the plunge and make the fix! Since both ovens needed the same part and the bottom oven was more useful, that's the one I chose to fix first. I read the directions, turned off the circuit breaker and disassembled the bottom of my oven. It took a few minutes to figure out which wires were for the igniter and where exactly they needed to be cut (re-reading the comments helped me figure it out, the directions that it came with were rather lacking) and cut them I did. I spliced in the new part and put the oven back together. A flip of the circuit breaker and turn of the oven knob and a minute later we heard the gas hissing. I cautiously opened the oven door and it was already warming nicely. I had fixed it!

Sometime in the next couple of weeks or so we're going to order the 2nd part and soon I'll have both ovens in working order again. I'm feeling pretty spoiled now just having the bigger one back!

On to quilting!

Block number 3 of my new Posies and Celtic quilt is nearly done, but not finished so no picture, yet. I did get the purple flower quilt done, though. I promised myself I would not start quilting on the strip quilt until the purple quilt was finished and, had I known how quickly it would go once I got rolling on it, I would have finished it sooner!

I got the first needle full into the strip quilt and it's fun to quilt on so I anticipate that one not taking too terribly long unless I get taken over by the Posies and Celtic quilt. I've decided the strip quilt will go with Rebekah to her boyfriend's house, giving me a reason to make another (or two.) I LOVE how that one came out and now I know what to do with scraps too small to save, but too big to toss...they will get cut into 1 1/2 inch strips for strip quilts. These will be great for down in our family room, which tends to get cold in the winter. While I have a few quilts down there, I don't keep the "fancier" ones there as I want the kids to be able to use them without worrying about something happening to them.

It's going to be rather warm this weekend, so I'm not sure how much hand quilting I'll be able to do. I'll get some paper ready for strip blocks and cut some strips if I get tired of applique. I can also cut and mark the last 8 background pieces for the Posies and Celtic quilt or baste some posie or leaf pieces so those are ready to go. My husband has a bunch of things he wants to get done around the house, which should leave me quite a bit of time for quilting.

I made homemade pizza for dinner, we've eaten, and, since we're a small group tonight, cleanup will be quite easy. My posie block is calling me and I have an evening stretching ahead that can be devoted to quilting if I just get to it.

Ruthie hasn't napped today, hopefully that means a good night ahead. She sometimes ends up falling asleep around dinner time and that means she's up late...or if she goes to bed on time it means waking up in the night having difficulty going back to sleep. She's outside right now and Jonathan is having a friend over so she's likely to stay awake late enough to make for a "normal" night. Which means ample rest for me and, hopefully, abundant energy tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

Sue and Ruthie

Time is Getting Away From Me

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had actually been since I posted until Bren and Tyanne inquired as to my whereabouts and wellbeing.

All here is going quite well, actually, I've just been as busy as all get out. Last night, I finished the last of the toppers...YAY! That is a big burden lifted, but I enjoyed them so much that I'm almost sorry to be done. I think that I may make a whole quilt of these blocks, with various colors.

Still to be worked on, though, is the album quilt which doesn't yet have much of the quilting done. I have to spend some serious time in the next couple of weeks or it won't be finished in time. Of course, today is the start of a string of 90 degree days, just in time to have a big quilt in my lap. I'm so thankful for air conditioning! We do try not to run it too often, and I will hold off for as long as possible today, but with so much to do I need my sleep and I don't sleep well at all when it's warm and humid at night.

We are still van-less but hopefully not for much longer. It's been very frustrating, I'm sure more for the young men who are trying to get it running for us than it has been for me. Generally I'm a homebody and not having the car really hasn't stopped me from doing much, but just knowing I can go when I want to again will be very nice!

Since my last post, I've had a birthday. My kids all pitched in and bought me this for my sewing room. I'd been carrying down the 13 inch from our bedroom a few times a week so they bought me this nice 19 inch that resides in my sewing area. It's also within sight of the dining room table, which my family loves during baseball games.

With all the reunion events less than 3 weeks away, and being well on my way to finishing the work for them, I'm beginning to daydream about new projects. I don't think I have to do any big quilts for this Christmas, which means I can pick a couple of projects just for the fun of it. One will be a new window treatment for our bedroom, I think I have it all designed in my head so now I have to work out the specifics. It will be a quilt, strung like a roman shade so it can be raised and lowered, with a cornice covered with a quilted piece. I'm really excited about it and it shouldn't take too long to make.

The other is the quilt of blocks like the toppers. I can't believe that I'm wanting to make more of those! The purple flower quilt is nearly finished with the quilting, just the borders are left, and I'm hoping to make quick work of that once the party work is done, mostly so I can choose another to quilt!

I can't write after so long without a Ruthie picture, she's doing just great. She is talking more and more and is such a little ray of sunshine. Our last year has been pretty rough, but it's hard to stay down for too long with all these smiling faces around us every day.

Now I need to run or I'll not make any progress on anything! The All-Star game is tonight, I plan to park myself in front of it, album quilt in my lap, air conditioning making our lower level nice and cool, hoping to make a nice dent in the quilting that is left.

Happy Quilting!

Sue and Ruthie

Slow Progress

I feel as though I'm working at a snails pace lately and wonder if I should go back to timing how much time I spend on my quilting. While I think it might be helpful, at the same time I haven't gone through one of these stale periods in a very long time and I know they are usually followed with renewed motivation. I'm hoping for that, and soon, or the timer will have to come back out!

I did finish the quilting on my latest topper and just need to get the binding on. My hope is to get that on sometime today and then relax and sew to the back tonight. I have a busy day today, I babysit from 10 until 3 and during that time have a short cleaning job to do with my husband.

I'm beginning to think that the flower quilt will not be finished before I start on the album quilt. I just cannot make myself work on it at the moment. I'm hoping to turn that around in the next couple of days and just get it done, but if I can't I think I'll have to baste the album quilt and move on. I guess the good part of that is when I am finished with all this anniversary stuff there will be another project with a quick turnaround waiting for me. I just realized that I appliqued these blocks during the winter Olympics, perhaps it's fitting that the quilting be completed during them as well.

Both families are having reunion parties within a week of each other. On August 2nd my family will all be together for my parents' anniversary party. On the 9th, my husband's very large extended family is having a reunion. By the time everyone leaves, the Olympics will have started. We are admitted Olympic junkies. Our TV will be on from the time we rise until we go to bed on whatever channel happens to be hosting at that time of day. During the winter Olympics two years ago, I got TONS of handwork done. We had what we called the "running bowl of popcorn", and chores and meals were done in little fits and bits during commercials. After the stress of the reunions, we are really looking forward to this. Our daughters have already let their new boyfriends know that they are welcome to come here as much of the time as they'd like, but they will be watching Olympics. I expect that Rachel may not be quite as invested this time and I suspect that Rebekah may be watching a fair bit of it on her boyfriends very large, very nice television, but he has already conceded the Olympics weeks since Rebekah has quite happily obliged him play-off hockey.

It's a beautiful, sunny day today. I'm hoping this continues as Ruthie loves to be outside. So far there haven't been many nice days and the ones we have had were preceeded by rainy ones...making the yard wet and muddy and not a very good place to play. I have nice places to sit in both the front and back yards, so perhaps I'll be able to get a little handwork done while the little ones play in the yard.

Maybe I need to start list-making again, that sometimes works to help me muddle through when I'm feeling unmotivated. Today the plan is to sew the binding to the front of the latest topper and finish the applique on the current one. Maybe a more reasonable list will get me going!

So I guess I should run, maybe I can get something (anything!) accomplished before my little charge comes at 10:00.

Happy Quilting!

Sue