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DH and I heat our home with a wood stove. On Wednesday night, DH was working on the recalcitrant door handle when it broke. Without the handle, the door wouldn't stay shut. Without the door shut, the chimney wouldn't draw. Without the chimney drawing, the house would fill with smoke and we would cough our lungs out on the floor and die. So we had to do without the stove until the replacement handle could be obtained and installed. That wasn't a problem on Wednesday night when the temperature only got down to 52 degrees.
It was a big problem last night when the temperature got down to 28 degrees. So DH went out to his shop and brought the kerosene heater into the house so's we wouldn't freeze our bohonkuses off. And before you panic, it's a heater that is made to use indoors and it doesn't emit lethal levels of carbon monoxide. Besides, we have a smoke/carbon monoxide detector, and yes, it works.
The part came in today and DH will have it installed by this evening when it will get really cold again. The overnight shipping for the part cost more than the part itself. Oh well.
I am done with my quilt squares for our friend's quilt. I was supposed to do two, but ended up doing three because I am a math dummy and can't count or add properly; I was too chagrined to admit to my fellow stitchers that I can't be trusted with determining how many squares we actually have.
We wanted to have 12 squares for the quilt. When I counted up names, I had Georgia's name listed but she isn't stitching a square, she is making the quilt! DOH! So I thought quick and ordered a Name Tree from Stephanie at Nouveau Encore. The Name Trees are quick to stitch so I was able to whip it out pretty fast. WHEW!
And I won't be posting a picture of it as it is our friend's first name and I want to preserve her privacy. But go on over to Nouveau Encore and have a look - there are all kinds of Name Trees there!
Anyway, I am posting a picture of the square I just finished. It is the one I "designed" that represents the stitching retreats our friend is involved with. And my t.u. friends ought to be happy as I had to use "dark burnt orange" for the Alto Frio star. Gack.
LoneStar
We've had cloudy/rainy weather here since last week. The sun FINALLY came out this afternoon. I'm a plant; I need lots of sun to maintain my "all is good with the world" attitude. Too many rainy days in a row causes me to turn grumpy and grumbly. (Just ask DH!)
This weekend was a football weekend. DH and I watched all the play-off games and enjoyed them. What can I say? We like football. Neither of us can stand Phil Sims who provides color on CBS. We usually mute the game and just read the closed-captioning when he is commentating. Ugh.
I've been working on the special quilt square that I "designed" and I'm stitching like a fiend because I need to get it done by Friday. Our stitching group set the due date for January 22nd - the date of our next stitchtogether. Once all the squares are turned in, Georgia will work her quilting magic so's we can get the quilt to its recipient soon.
We have this fleece throw on our couch and Emma loves it, especially in the winter. (She pretty much ignores it in the summer.) On Sunday, she got up on the couch and was pawing at it and then staring intently at DH. He got the hint and made her a little fleece Emma nest. She was a happy dog.
LoneStar
Well, my dad's true romance story made it into the local paper - The Dallas Morning News - on Sunday. There was an up-to-date picture of them (that my brother took of them the week before) in the column, but not their wedding picture. They sent me a hard copy in the mail; you can read the column here: "Jilted GI found love on the rebound".
I think it's pretty cool myself!
I have no picture to post today of anything. I've been working on my second square for our friend's quilt. I wanted to design a square that showed her involvement in stitching retreats. My hat is off to designers. I've been beating my head on my computer monitor for about a week working on that darn square design in PatternMaker. I just can't get it "right." I finally had to tell myself, "Self, if you don't stop eternally 'fixing' the design, you won't have time to stitch it." So I went with what I had and have started stitching on it. It's still not "right," but hopefully it will be okay when seen in the quilt.
And the weather down here in south central Texas is cold (for here). We've had nights in the twenties and thirties, and the days have only been up in the forties. BRRRR. I don't care much for cold weather. When I did laundry on Monday, there were a couple of pairs of shorts in there that I wore just last week! If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait 15 minutes...
LoneStar
DH and I spent Saturday day doing needed things around the house, but we spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday being football couch potatoes. We both enjoy football and enjoy the playoffs. Two out of the four teams I was rooting for made it into the playoffs and the games were fun to watch.
I spent Saturday finishing up our 2010 budget and setting up MS Excel for 2011 record keeping. DH finished the siding on our bathroom - finally! The job took longer than normal because of the lasting effects of our bad contractor. DH grumped around about that during the entire job. Now I just have to touch-up paint nail holes and paint one board and the siding will be done. It will probably take me longer to stir up the exterior paint in its five-gallon bucket than it will take me to actually do the needed painting. Oh well.
I'll have to post a before and after picture some other day. I didn't get a finished picture before the sun went down and it's rainy and blicky here right now. Hopefully the sun will be out later this week.
On Saturday night, we had a beautiful sunset.
LoneStar
I put the last stitches in the beagle this morning right before lunch. I enjoyed stitching him. The pattern was nice as far as all the colors being in blocks without confetti stitching. And the finished design really looks life-like! (And no, I haven't washed and ironed the design yet so it's wrinkledy and hoopy.)
I do however have a complaint about the choice of symbols. Many of the symbols were similar, and the similar ones were unfortunately right next to each other in the design. I had to be very careful and check twice. All in all though, I would recommend this designer to others.
The chart is "Beagle Dog" by Orbis Pictura and I bought and downloaded it from Creative Poppy. The designer specializes in dogs and horses according to the website. I stitched this pattern on 16 count white Aida with the recommended DMC. It is for a quilt our stitching group is doing for a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer.
LoneStar
Nope. I'm still not doing it. Ain't gonna. Won't. Lots of other stitchers, both blogging and non-blogging, are doing it. I applaud you!
However, the methodical part of me wonders why you can't just stitch 15 projects over the year, starting a new one after you finish the previous one? I know. I just don't get it. Is it the thrill of the start? Maybe that's my problem; I get as thrilled over the finish as over the start, and I get inner satisfaction with finishing what I started without stopping. Yeah, I know I'm weird - deal with it. ;-)
I am stitching on the beagle and should get it finished in the next couple of days. I have a bit of the face to fill in and an ear to finish.
LoneStar
This weekend was the last of deer hunting season. Between early morning and evening hunts, DH worked on installing the trim molding around the windows in our bedroom. It's about two years overdue. ;-)
Here are pictures of an untrimmed window, DH trimming it, DH using his beloved compound miter saw, and a finished window. Now I have to spackle the nail holes and do touch-up painting. Then I'll have to ponder window treatments - mini-blinds and topper curtains probably.
I spent a lot of the weekend being a hunting widow and stitching on the beagle dog. I got a lot done on it and I'll post a picture tomorrow. I spent Sunday afternoon vegging out on football. Alas! The football season is drawing to a close - whine! At least the Cowboys ended on a win, although their overall record stinks. But they do have five players starting in the Pro Bowl!
LoneStar
