Dec 1 2024: wow! let this blog go for way too long. Yes, still around.  Had started posts a couple of times since 2021 but never seemed to get them posted so will keep this one short for now and try to remember to add to more often.

Only 5 cats now as Butch passed away in April 2023.  Had added two male cats in December 2020, brothers, both orange and white or some may say, ginger, or "red".  One is outgoing, the other is extremely shy and likes the light subdued or dark. so they are 4 years old now.

Looked to when this started, 2014 so it's been here for 10 years.

2021 and a New Year has begun

 January 13,  Times flies again.  Made it through the pandemic so far.  Am vaccinated now and thankful for the Wise County health system in TX for that happening.  They have been on the ball.  Last year just seemed to disappear in the background.  Did make some masks last spring and have more cut out just sitting there by the machine waiting for me to get around to putting them together.  Travels were limited.  Weather was normal for the most part.

Just had a winter snow event a couple of days ago.  Maybe an 1/8th of an inch of slushy snow so it melted fast on the same day it fell.

As for cats, still have 4 of them plus 2 new comers.  The new ones were 14 week-old FERAL kittens, both orange and white, one light, one dark, one blue-eyed, one orange-eyed.  Picked them up from a friend in early December and still in the process of taming them.  Made good progress with that this week.  Their 1st week however was very traumatic for them.  First the process of catching them which started their trauma, then their escape a couple days later within the house.  Caught 1 the first day of escape but it took a week to catch the other.  One of our older cats though has helped greatly in calming them down in this last week so now I can see them up closer.  Working on being able to hand feed them snacks and then it will be to touch them.

new year's update

February 22 2020, Another year past with little updates though I thought I had a few months ago.  Must not have so here goes for lately:

Still have 4 cats with all 7 years or more in age.  Time flies.  Have rarely touched any quilting for the past couple of years, though projects are still waiting for me to finish.

Diary for the 1st few months of 2019

Started off fairly decent and still is, here on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019.  We had a cold winter once January came about.  and rain, and cold, and warm, and cold, and warm and wet... It meant there were lots of wildflowers sprouting for this spring.  Even my bluebonnets that I planted seeds several years ago, decided to make a showing.  Best they've done but there are only 2 patches, both about 2 to 3 feet in diameter.  It does mean though that there will be a good crop of seeds spread about if the rains come at the right time for them to sprout next fall/winter.

My quilting has been non-existent.  "Nada" stitch.  Will have a couple of visitors this next week for an auto swap meet in the area so it's house cleaning time. oh, wait, there's lots of weeding to be done, too.  Which comes first?

Row by Row Experience will be starting again in June.  Theme this year is food related/ cooking so wondering what the rows will look like from the different shops.

signing off for the time being.

2018 and quilts not done.

Sigh!  More than a year since my last post.  Lots has happened in some ways and little in other ways.  I never completed the 2017 Row by Row quilt.  5 rows were put together but never completed.  They hang on my design wall where I see them daily.  Just not inspired to complete or do the other rows ... yet.

 The 2015 quilt is still not pieced together.  It also hangs on the design wall.

 I've started one baby quilt which just needs to be quilted now.  I will probably not do normal quilting on it.  It's pieced on one side and backed by a solid fabric of Minky type.  Very soft fur on the back side so I didn't put a batting in it.

 The 2018 Row by Row is almost over.  Of course, just had to get the local pattern blocks for it.  Have a design for the 2018 quilt but still not inspired to work on it.

and then there are the previous quilt tops I've finished but never layered and quilted.

Meanwhile,  I did spend a month in WA state this past April.  Picked up 3 baby quilt tops from my step-mother's estate which I have  layered and are ready for quilting.  Don't know why they are not done yet.  The projects seem to keep stacking up and not getting done.  Mending pile is also increasing, most sheets that need some minor repairs.  Maybe I should just throw out the computers and get back to the way my life was before the internet came along.

2017 has been around for 6 months!

Oh, My!  I suppose no news is good news will explain it, ... I guess.  Apparently haven't been in a writing mood lately, at least for this blog.  Thought I had one in the works last January but no, nothing.

It's June and the annual Row by Row Shop Hop is getting ready for action again on June 21.  I've been planning what to do, well, may be not so much.  Have been downloading the row photos as they show up on facebook but not sure how I want to do it this year.  More shops are involved this year and I might make my West Texas loop again like I did last year but don't know if I'll have time to do them all as there are some new ones on the route.  Some rows I want but they are not in an area of Texas that I will be visiting anytime this summer.

2016 Row by Row, etc...

Heck, 2016 is just about over and I never posted about my Row by Row experience this year.  I have not finished the 2015 Row by Row quilt... yet but it is in the works. Meanwhile I DID start and finish the 2016 Row by Row quilt though I didn't get near as many row patterns as last year plus I did turn it in for a prize from my local quilt shop, Quilter's Dream.  Here's the quilt as it was finished:

Note that my Bobbin the Robin is also in the picture and some of her friends are flying away from their nest in one of the rows in search of their new homes on the side of the quilt.

Meanwhile, Row by Row Experience just posted their Theme for 2017: "Row by Row On the Go" with a video on the different ways these rows might look for next year, basically, how we get from one place to the next, either by land, air, or sea in our quests.  My mind is already thinking about how I can incorporate one of my T-birds into the rows that come out for next year.  Will just have to see what the rows look like when they start getting posted from the different quilt shops on the web next spring.

Loved watching facebook as quilters turned in their quilts at shops and was inspired by some of the settings and use of colors to enhance the rows and the layout.   After looking at my 2015 rows I had finished last fall in one layout, saw another layout that I really liked.  I rearranged the rows and came up with a design that I like so someday I'll get around to finishing it up.

Still might do a little more rearranging of the rows but I do like the positions of the rows going around the center medallion row but thinking that I might make it so it can be hung in two different directions and still be able to see the rows without twisting my head around.  Will be putting a border on it, too.