Slow Start To A Short Day

 Good Morning from sunny California once again.  I have to say I LOVE waking up every morning.  It really doesn't matter about the weather one bit, but sunny is nice, even if the time change sucks.  I feel like I never really know what time it is any more ... and eating at 11:00 just doesn't work for me.  I guess I'll get used to it sooner or later, just in time to switch it back again.

Mr. Coooper isn't thrilled with it either.  He obviously doesn't know about the time change and demands his food right on schedule.  The OLD schedule.  I think I'll set my clocks 30 minutes ahead for the first month, and catch up with the last 30 a month from now!!

On this day I made a beeline for the quilt store.  By the way, THANK YOU THANK YOU for the directions to Hailey Stitches and the MATH SHEETS.  WOW, did Arrowhead Gramma just make my week!  You don't know how much time and frustration you have saved me.  There it is ... how big to make all the pieces for the block.  What a lifesaver!!

And so ..... of course ..... I headed off to the quilt store!!

Unfortunately on this day, it was not to be.  It's a small shop ... and they didn't have anything for a border that would work with this fabric.  I thought to use the SAME fabric.  I can usually find anything I want on the internet, so I searched for over an hour.  Nothing!  I'm SURE I saw it the day before when looking for something else, but I could not find it on this day.  Well that was no fun!!  

What I did find, changed the look of this quilt a bit.  I decided to make it look more OLD, at least in my eyes.  There wasn't much fabric back in the old days.  Yes, we used flour sacks for hand towels and patches for holes in our jeans.  Just about everything you can imagine was used up.  So I changed to using different red squares.  AND the gray just didn't flip my skirt.  I found this instead, with tiny flowers on a darker background.  

I like it better.  I don't know why since it's rather dark ... maybe because the gray reminds me of the old woolen, scratchy army blankets I had to sleep with.  We seemed to have a lot of Army surplus stuff on the ranch.  Old cots for beds, old wool blankets, old Jeeps with bullet holes and old worn out clothes.  Money was for buying cattle, not for wasting on every day items.  

 The red and black .... that old plaid hand-me-down shirt I wore to death while gathering cattle.  Definitely not your fancy quilt of today.

Even better, this takes no MATH and sews up VERY quickly!!  This might be a good idea for red, white and blue quilts!!  I could make one in a day!!

I spent too much time sewing.  Almost before I knew it, the day had passed, which I'm sure had to do with the time.  I drug the ladder out to double check the gutters before the big rains ... which of course now are NOT the big rains.  Still ... the gutters have too long a run, and even a little bit can cause them to overflow.  

Leaves are not the problem, but the dust and dirt from farming that covers the roof and ends up in the gutter.  It makes them so heavy I have to clean them out with a big spatula or they sag and won't drain.  Oh the joy of home ownership.  At least I'm not shoveling snow off the roof.

I worked on the puzzle a bit, but spent more time looking than I did placing.  You can put most any of these pieces together and they look like they fit ... but they don't.  In spite of separating by colors, which is truly a lost cause, I still can't find those pieces at the bottom.  I can hear Mr. Ed laughing!  This is one tough puzzle!

Before I knew it, Mr. Cooper was pawing my foot.  There's only three things he wants.  Food, OUT, or bed.  Apparently it was past his bed time!!  

Today I have to make a bank run before donning the heavy armor of Bingo.  The good news ... I have a new VICTIM who has offered to learn how the infernal machine works.  WOOHOO!!!  She's very motivated ... at least until the first time I take two months off!!  

Let's all wish her luck!!