Ready for the Weekend!

Good morning! 

It is Friday woohoo! I feel like I have a sleep hangover. I could barely get myself out of bed. The boy doesn't have school today but he was up bright and early. He'll probably end up napping later.

My work is so funny! We had a "training" on some new form they want the "customer" to fill out. It super detailed and they are like DON'T FILL IT OUT FOR THEM. But also draw a line through these parts if they don't apply to them. Go watch all these videos on how to fill it out BUT DON'T DO IT FOR THEM.  Freaking ridiculous.  Yeah ok, I'll get right on that. Ugh.

Also they were like when you are sitting with across from the customer. Uh I haven't sat across from a customer since March 2020. Did they forget we are teleworking? Stupid. 

After work yesterday I took a nap but didn't really ever fall asleep, just was laying in bed playing on my phone. Dinner was in the crock pot so I could be lazy and productive at the same time haha.

After dinner I made my Dad 2 masks with doubled up fabric (so 4 layers instead of 2) and then looked through my green fabric to find something to back my green quilt with but didn't like any of the fabric that I had enough yardage for with the quilt. Guess it's another Joann's trip in my future.

So I worked on the scraps that had ended up in my little scrap bin and bag and started working on some more crumb blocks and cut what I had of 1" strips for a strip block. Didn't get too far though since all of a sudden it was 11pm. 

As usual no plans for the weekend. Remember when I was so busy every weekend? Seems like a lifetime ago. We have 1 month until Trevor turns 18 and I will have no more minors in my house. Crazy! 

Oh wait I just remembered I'm supposed to go with Melissa to look at a car tomorrow. That will be a nice ride to get out of the house!

Lazy Bones

 Good morning!

I was a sloth yesterday after work so I don't have anything exciting to talk about lol. I watched the rest of Schitt's Creek last night and played games on my phone. I found a new game and I am slightly addicted now. 

Today's plan is to put a roast in the crock pot for dinner, I need to do that pretty soon. My dad asked me if I could make "double" masks for him so I have 2 of those to make (2x the fabric) and then my green quilt top to finish. I also need to wash a few extra dishes since I was lazy yesterday.

It is still drizzling here. I kind of laughed when Trevor looked out the window and was like "It's STILL raining?" It's been two days. Shows how much rain we've had recently. 

We have some kind of training thing for work today for something new we have to do for the current round of applications. Tomorrow is a deadline so I'm going to laugh if they think it will be done by then. I think it is more of a to be done in 30 days but they always wait until too late to tell us some new thing they want us to do.

That's all the excitement here! Hope you all have a good day!

Big Storm

Oh my God I'm so exhausted this morning! We got hit by this weird ass storm with super high winds and rain all night. It came from a weird direction and pounded my antique glass slider in my bedroom all night. Scott put packing tape on the door rubber to hold it on better which to my surprise actually worked.

When I went to bed the curtains were flying up into the room. TG for packing tape.

Yes this is our next project that we haven't got to yet. I thought for sure the wind was going to blow the whole door apart. I was wide awake for most of the night but actually got up a few times from 2-4 to look outside, go pee, etc. I took some Advil and then was finally able to sleep a bit. Every since we painted my joints in my hands and arms have been bothering me. When I can't sleep for whatever reason that doesn't help. 

The plan was to go into work today but I decided I'm not doing that until next week. I might need a nap in an hour or so. 

Last night before all the excitement I finished the top of my green quilt. I think I added 3 rows to it to make it bigger. Now it is a good lap quilt size like the others I made. Next step is to figure out what I want to put on the back and binding. I shouldn't have to buy anything since I have a tub full of green fabric. Hopefully something will work with it.

Ok that's all my brain can think of this morning. I have a review thing for work at 1 or I'd just be going back to bed lol

Baby Love

Good morning! How about some baby spam? 

I watched this little guy for most of the day yesterday. I was trying to get him to be able to sit up a bit more with the blanket behind him but that didn't work lol. He likes to sit up more.

We had a flirt fest for most of the day, he is so dang cute! Snookie LOVES him

He liked laying on the floor. He mostly only cat naps. There is a reason why we don't have babies when we are 46 lol.

Snookie moving in a bit closer lol. H

e went through 4 outfits with drooling and spitting up a little.

Such a cutie 

Then he took a longer nap and woke up pissed off! He had a bottle but was never fully happy after that. I think he was like well this is fun but where's my mom? Luckily she wasn't gone too much longer after that lol

After he left I gave the stinky old cat a bath and drank a Smirnoff.

Oh and worked on some green squares to add to that top. 

Might have the little guy for an hour or so today too while his mom goes to the dentist and dad has a job interview. Hopefully I get flirty baby again ;)

 

Quilting Weekend

Good morning! It's Monday again, that sure happens fast doesn't it?

I spent the weekend finishing off 2 more quilt tops I had done.

Got this crumb quilt finished

and this pink strip quilt. My friend really liked this one and asked to buy it for her daughter so I have to mail it out to her this week.

I also got a mask order so I got those done so I won't have to think about them lol. I've now made 1575 masks. This used up almost all my bee fabric, I just have the sunflower one left and a scrap of a different one with a green background. These are for a baby shower.

Next up for the sewing machine is to make some more green blocks so I can finish up this green quilt top I have started. It is not really big enough as it is. I pulled out all my smaller green scraps and cut some strips to get it started last night.

For some reason I have A LOT of green fabric. One of these days I'll work at putting some fabric in my Etsy store. 

After I get this one done I just have a really small purple one I had started and then some random blocks. Wooohoo progress! Oh I also have Melissa's quilt she made but I was going to take that one to the lady with the long arm to finish off with some fancy bubble quilting.

I think I will probably give some of these to the nieces and nephews for Christmas. They are a nice size for little kids. Anything much bigger would be too hard to put together on my sewing machine.

I did NO housework this weekend so I get to catch up on washing dishes and doing some laundry. I've been watching Schitt's Creek while sewing most of the weekend. That show is funny and I like how the episodes aren't really long.

Ok off to do some work! Hope you have a good one.

 

Working and Sewing

Good morning happy Friday!

I slept like crap last night. I should just stay up and do something when I can't sleep instead of laying there trying forever. Finally fell asleep and then the cats kept waking me up scratching something (probably the couch little assholes). I slept great from 6-7am though. 

Today I'm going with Jess to the dentist (probably sit out in the car) so I can pay for it with my Care Credit. For some reason they said I had to be there even though the rest of the family has used it without me. That's ok though, I'll just get a Starbucks while I'm waiting.

Yesterday I went to work all day and printed out stuff and filed stuff. Stayed til 7. So much stuff that needs to be printed off. I just put myself on the calendar for next Wednesday so I can do some more. I was thinking on my way there yesterday how funny that it is like a big ordeal to go into work now when I used to do it everyday.

After I got home I finished putting the binding on this quilt. It's kind of a raspberry pink.

I have 3 left that I started to finish off, one more pink, a green and the other crumb quilt I added to the other day.

I'm going to work on the other pink one next.

This one is long and skinny right now. I debated taking a row or two off the length to add to the width but I don't think that will work out well. I pulled out all my pink scraps last night to make some more strips to make it wider. Hopefully it will blend in ok, I think it will.

Trevor went to the store yesterday and bought stuff to make himself lamb chops? Weird kid lol. Now he's making us breakfast. He bought a new knife too. Hey maybe I won't have to cook anymore ;)

Happy Inauguration Day

Good morning! Watching the Inauguration this morning. 

Last night I got this pink strip quilt quilted and most of the binding put one. Just one more round to finish it off but it was almost midnight when I got this far so had to stop.

Almost every time I sit down I get this face. 

Mom Mom Mom. 

His I have to go potty face. He's lying, he just wants to go out and smell the grass and look for cats to bark at.

Friday I spent around $200 on grocery from Instacart. Almost everything is gone but the meat in the freezer. Last night at almost midnight Scott was making a bagel? and IDK what Trevor was making but he was making something too. Um maybe we should have a cut off eating time and GO TO BED. Sheesh. 

Have a good day everyone!

Big Sewing Weekend

Morning! I had a busy sewing weekend! But first I did a little more organizing. This is my "pattern cabinet" that I got years ago and brought into my sewing room once I had one lol. It had been out in the shed with household tools and stuff. At the beginning of the pandemic I had 3 drawers of patterns that were for sale on Etsy. Now I'm down to the top drawer and the little bit of the 2nd drawer. Part of me wants to just get them all sold out! The other part of me wants to go shopping for more to sell lol. I haven't been sourcing since the pandemic started. I wonder if the stores are full of patterns again since I haven't been there to buy them. 

Top drawer is themed fabric

Then bigger regular fabrics

and then 2 sizes of smaller scraps and patterns that are "mine"

Saturday I added a border to this quilt and then went to Joanns to get some batting and backing fabric. I was trying to use what I had for backing fabric but just didn't have enough yardage of one fabric. 

 I decided that I just wanted to try quilting these at home instead of paying someone to do it.  I think it turned out ok! It got a little bunchy in a couple spots but it is ok. Learning as I go!

So after that was done I had to clean up my extra scraps. I've been trying to do this as I go so I don't have so much. 4 new crumb blocks 

Then I had left over of the border I had made so I cut that down to 1 1/2" strips to match some others that I have been making in case I decide I want to mix them together

and then I had 1" strips left over and was able to make 4 squares of those, which I really like how they turned out

Sunday I quilted this purple one up, it is a lot smaller, so baby quilt sized. This one quilted great but the border I had previously put on got bunched a bit. Almost like it had been stretched. Oh well good enough! Still cute!

I had enough fabric for the back and the binding

I was showing my mom what I had left to finish and ended up adding 3 rows to this one. This is the last crumb quilt I have put together. The rest of the blocks are chillin' in the bag. I'm waiting a bit still to finish this one off since I had already cut the batting for another.

Next up is this one. I think I am not going to put a border on it and just let the binding be like a border. I got the fabric ready for the back and the batting cut so just need to pin it together.

After this one I'll have to go buy more batting. I have 3 more tops to finish up including the crumb one pictured. So those will keep me busy as my latest projects lol.

That's about all I did this weekend other than hanging out with the kids for a little bit when they came over to do some washing. Yesterday I let Jess borrow my car to go to the beach and before they left the baby did a giggle when I was playing with him. So cute!!

Ok off to do some "work". 

FriYeah

Good morning! I almost just got up at 4 am because I had been awake so long. Scott got up and was talking to himself in the bathroom at 2 am then came back to bed and started snoring and I was wide awake. My hand has been bothering me every since we painted so of course that was aching. I finally got up and took some Advil and then I was able to fall back asleep for a bit.

Yesterday evening my old Buster cat had a seizure. I thought maybe he was dying but then he was fine and purring again. Sheesh silly old cat. I have never had an animal have a seizure before but I remember my grandma had a dog that had them. Also in high school a kid had one at the bus stop once. That was terrifying.

We just got an email from the state office at work. I'll share.

Dear California NRCS employees, contractors, and partners:

 With the potential for civil unrest directed at federal agencies, everyone in our NRCS family shall take the precautions listed below through Friday, January 22. FSA employees have received similar guidance.

 Also for your reference, attached is a notice from the FPAC Homeland Security Division.  Please contact your supervisor or SET member if you have any additional concerns or issues and above all be safe.

• All employees should telework through 1/20 and preferably through Friday 1/22. If you have an issue with teleworking contact your SET member and they will provide you instruction on your situation.
• Starting now through 1/22 do not wear government logo attire or your LincPass lanyard in public.
• Keep your LincPass with you when away from the computer.
• When securing the building, take all computers home, lock up all PII, secure sensitive and easily pilferable equipment and close the blinds.
• If you are on your way into the office and encounter a protest or civil unrest near the building, do not try to go through the crowd to get to the office.  Instead, safely make your way back home to telework for the day.
• Building doors remain locked at all times
• If working in the building next week (please see the first bullet point) pack a lunch; do not leave the building during work hours
• If a crowd gathers, leave via the back door if possible, otherwise shelter-in-place until it is safe to leave the building
• Call 9-1-1 if anyone starts banging on the locked doors
• Call the local law enforcement non-emergency number if a crowd starts gathering

Yeah so that's awesome. I was thinking of going into work one day next week but maybe not now. Although we are out on the edge of the city so I doubt anything would happen there but you never know.

Last night I made up 6 masks for my best mask customer. Her son wanted to give some to his teacher I think she said. So fishing and teacher themes is what she wanted.

Ok off to tackle the few emails I got of stuff to do then back to working on my spreadsheet. I'm almost done with June so making progress!

I've also been working on the laundry I had been neglecting and started cleaning some stuff up in the garage. My husband is the least organized person I know and never throws anything away. Doesn't help that he has a giant car in there with no wheel on it so we can't even push it out.

Another Day of Random

Good morning, never finished my post yesterday morning!

Tuesday I worked made some crumb blocks with what was left of the purple scraps. They will go into the bag with the others I have until there is enough to make something with.

I didn't sew at all yesterday. Just worked on laundry, dishes, cleaning up and then Trevor and I went for a ride to Panda Express drive thru to pick up dinner. I was trying to remember the last time I had left the neighborhood and it was January 2nd (and that was for Taco Bell lol). I think that is the longest I haven't left my neighborhood in quite awhile!

Today is my mom's 69th birthday! Last year for her birthday we went to my brother Joe's house and I coughed the entire time I was there. I had already been sick for weeks so I figured I wasn't contagious anymore.  At least I'm not sick this year but we can't get together. Some day life might return to normal?

Someone asked me this morning if I wanted to run for the Board out where I live. I've thought about it but I don't think I want to yet. Maybe next time.

Just had to recover my couch again. My cats are like thanks for buying us this HUGE expensive scratching posts. Ugh. Stupid cats. Then Buster comes along and pees on the sheet that is touching the floor. I can't win! I will not miss him peeing on everything. The cat is almost 18 years old, how crazy is that? Always the naughty ones that live forever. No more cats once this batch is gone that's for sure. I know I said that before the twins (Tina & Tubz) showed up lol.

I've been working on my side hustle spreadsheet since that tax stuff is coming up soon. I used to work on it when I was bored at work and now I just do the dishes so I had to go back to March to get stuff up to date. I'm almost done with April. I know there are faster ways to do it without so much detail but I like all my tracking info. I think April was my busiest month on Etsy with people buying patterns and craft books to keep themselves busy during the quarantine. I never went sourcing after the shut down so I've went from over 800 items in my store to 200 something. I haven't added anything new to my sewing store in quite awhile. 

Ok well off to do something productive today. I have an order for 6 masks to work on later.

After the masks I want to work on finishing up the little quilts I have started. I am going to figure out how to quilt them with the batting and backing at home so I don't have to spend the money to have someone else do them. They won't be fancy but they are super busy so I think simple topstitching is more than enough. 

Hope you all have a great day! The weekend is almost here.

Flamingos and Scrappy Purple Project

Good morning! Happy Tuesday! Yesterday morning I had this cute visitor on my porch. Someone bought a flock of them and put them out in the neighborhood. I didn't get mine redelivered last night but I'll make sure and do it tonight.

Doesn't Lucy look like she's going to kill me? That spot she is in is the treasured spot in the room now. All the cats but the old guy take turns up there. Mostly Lucy and Tina but Tubby took a nap up there the other day too.

I finished putting my little scrappy squares together. It is not very big all together so it will need some borders added to it. I have quite a little collection of tops that need to be finished now. I think that I am going to just try and quilt them myself with just some simple quilting. We'll see how that goes. First I need to get some batting.

Now I have all the little purple pieces left to make some crumb blocks with. 

I went over to my neighbors to see what she wanted to get rid of yesterday (wore a mask and she had her stuff in the garage with the door open).  I got some spools of ribbon and a bunch of lace. The rest was mostly cording and belting type stuff that she had and I don't think that would sell for much and I don't think I'd really use it. She wouldn't take any money for what I selected so that was nice!

I'm all caught up on stuff to do for work unless someone sends an email. I should really go into the office and do printing and filing but I don't really want to. Maybe later in the week. There are so many sick people out there.

 

Weekend Recap, Surprise More Sewing!

It's here again, MONDAY blah. My Monday morning desk doesn't look as bad as last weeks.

I started off my weekend by making some mug cozies. I finished up the scrappy Valentine's ones

I made these for my friend and a bunch more to restock in my Etsy Store.

Then I was cleaning up trying to decide what I wanted to work on next. I have a really big zip lock bag I've been keeping my scraps in and I had several bags of purple strips (where do they keep coming from? I thought I had already used them all) so I played around with those all day yesterday. Here is where I stopped last night. I want to lay them out on the table to arrange them but that will have to wait a bit.

Stole these from Jess. I got him this little Pooh bear outfit for the baby shower but it was too big but look at it now, so cute! He is 3 months old now

and another on the quilt I made

I have a bit of work to do today. I sent out a lot of letters last week so people replied with the forms I sent. Doing work makes more work go figure lol. Getting closer to getting done sending letters. We have a deadline for something in about 2 weeks and then that will have us scrambling to get contracts ready again.

After work I might be going over to my neighbor's house (masked up). She has dementia but knows what she is doing 1/2 the time, just not the other. She came over yesterday and told me she's getting rid of her sewing stuff that she can't do anymore and asked if I wanted to come look at what she has.  Not that I need more stuff but if it's cheap enough I can always flip it too ;) Have a great day everyone!