I expect to feel like I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t when I spend time on a Carribean Cruise in November, or in Southern California or in Florida during January……but it’s been SO WARM here in North Carolina that SPRING THINGS are growing right out of the ground!
I took a walk with Sadie yesterday around the neighborhood…wearing a short sleeved tee shirt with a simple denim shirt thrown over it and I was almost TOO WARM--
Do you see these little iris shoots? They are coming up too early! Oh I hope we don’t get one of our usual February Ice Blasts and kill everything…it’s too soon too soon too soon!
This is a shot of the forsythia bushes that line the bridge that crosses our creek….their buds are plainly visible and close to bursting open. I can’t wait for that delightful abundance of bright yellow ---but this usually doesn’t happen until well AFTER Valentine’s day! The forsythia is the first thing to bloom around here and that is what signals to me that spring has finally arrived. I don’t want any February ice mess to take these away either!
Maybe I should feel more positive. Maybe I should relax a bit and just take this beautiful weather in stride…..fit in all the fresh air walks that I can…..but in the back of my mind this voice keeps saying that it’s too early for the worst of winter to be over yet.
All winter I've been worried about my drive up to Pennsylvania for my visit with the Le Tort Quilt Guild in Carlisle PA for Feb 3rd-5th! And after that I'm headed over to the Annapolis Quilt Guild in MD for a workshop and trunk show with them on Feb 6th. All along I've told them that the driving trip is weather-pending because you never know what weather will do in PA or MD in Feb -- I need it to stay nice enough to drive! It looks like I should be great on the way up...lets hope that it will be safe for my drive home too.
High temps today? Perfectly 61 degrees. Brisk sweater weather, just the way I like it. And I’ll be driving in the bright morning sunshine to go over to Sew Original to pick up my Bernina from Miss Lisa who has given her the once over --- she’s ready to sew a million more miles!
Since Bernina has been gone for her tune-up, I’ve been playing with my vintage machines. My featherweight went with me to Florida, and the stitch wasn’t quite right. Betty told me that there is a guy who retired from 35 years of sewing machine servicing right in the mobile home park where I was staying, and now he just works on the older mechanical machines as a “hobby” and would I like him to tune me up? SURE!!
She spins like a top now and I am so grateful! I don’t know what I would do if she stopped working or if something went really wrong with her. And he didn’t charge me a penny! ((Not to mention that he really loved the paint job on her!))
Being a lover of vintage machines, I told him about my blue wizard ---the 1950’s Japanese knock off of a Singer class 15 machine. I hadn’t sewn on this one for a while, and when I got home, I set the machine up and continued to work on my Midnight Flight quilt ----why had I waited so long to sew again on this beauty? She hums like a dream, has more POWER than my featherweight for fast sewing, and has the BEST stitch! I also love this machine because it takes a FULL SIZE Bobbin...so I don't have to change it nearly as often as the tiny featherweight ones.
And since I’ve done so much sewing on this quilt on this machine, I just might decide to finish the top on this machine ---
Oh, and that pink light? Ikea. best task light available! And only around $10. Much better light than those bendable bright lights that have to be attached to your machine with hooks. It comes in a clip on version also, which would clamp right on to the machine table…so the next time I head to Ikea, I’m going to pick up an extra one!
Yesterday I was able to go from THIS to THIS:
It’s coming along! Remember when I spun all those seams for the 4 patches for the Winston Ways quilt and it took FOREVER but was so WORTH IT?! Same thing with these. I spun all these 4 patch seams while at our retreat at Camp Dogwood in early January with the Bee girls, and when it came to sewing these block halves together, things just nested like they were meant to be! It IS worth it! You just have to be sure that all your seams are spinning the same direction. This little hint should explain more and help you!
Also on the agenda for today…..
A whole pile of birthday mail!! My day was so crazy yesterday getting back into the swing of being home that I didn’t attack this pile….I saved it for the weekend! What do YOU think is in here?! I better go find out --- it’s like waiting for Christmas!
Oh – and if you have a chance to go see One for the Money, The Stephanie Plum movie based on the funny books by Janet Evanovich, GO! DH and I went last night and loved it….Debbie Reynolds is hilarious as Gramma Mazur, the guy that plays Joe Morelli is terrific --- the only one I was not sure of was the guy that played Ranger. I didn’t think he was “dark, handsome and mysterious” enough….nor did he linger on the word "Baaaaabbbbe” the way he did in my mind in the novels --- I also pictured someone with a much thicker Hispanic accent --- but he was good! Could be MY imagination was run amuck during the novels and it tainted my own view. Oh. Lula! HILARIOUS! This is going to be a good series of movies, I can’t wait for the next one!
Have a great Saturday everyone!
Just so you know...those are Iris not daffodils...but, I'm sure if you had walked past the right yard you would have seen daffodils up too. I'm in central KY and my daffodils have been showing for over a month now. I get all excited when I see flowers starting to come up...but, I hate it for them when it freezes and bites them back...but, it is winter, so we can expect anything. I love seeing your machines almost as much as I love seeing flowers blooming!!! You must sit and smile as you sew!!!
ReplyDeleteI was excited to see my tulips sprouting in my front yard, here in UT . My front yard is screaming spring, while my backyard is still in winter. Nothing is sprouting out back.
ReplyDeleteI had my first daffodil blooms this week - the end of January! that doesn't normally happen with this early variety until the first or second week of February. I think winter skipped us this year in central Arkansas unless February and March prove to be our winter.
ReplyDeleteKaren
Remember in the first book One for the Money, the character Ranger wasn't fully developed. As the books go on Ranger becomes a main character and a love interest for Stephanie.
ReplyDeleteMarge
I love your sewing machines! I have two featherweights, my grandmother's treadle machine, a Singer 99K that I bought from someone who found it at a Habitat for Humanity thrift store, and I just bought one on HSN! I am a Singer junkie! But none are as colorful as yours!
ReplyDeleteYes, Bonnie, I too fear that 'second shoe drop' for the rest of what is supposed to be winter. We had snow yesterday here in Maine, but it turned to rain along the coast and the ground is clear again. Our temps have never been really cold for January, low teens when usually zero or below for most of the month. I, too, will be traveling from the 6th of Feb. heading to FL to spend the month with daughter. Her temps along the Gulf coast in Pensacola have been about the same as ours here in Maine....go figure.
ReplyDeleteLove the pic of the sewing machine....ya just can't beat the older models for longevity.
Have a great weekend stitching...can't wait to see what was in your mail!! Ta Ta
Faye in Maine
LOVE the new blocks. It's going to be a great quilt, I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteAnd we have my tulips already starting to sprout, which is a bit early. I haven't pruned my roses or Japanese maples yet...better get to it.
It's great that you get to keep right on celebrating your birthday! It will be fun to see all the goodies in those packages.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor has Daffodils (Buttercups as we call them here in AL) blooming. Mine are peeking up through the ground along with the Tulips. Some of the trees have little buds on them also. I hope they don't get "nipped in the bud" by freezing weather. I don't mind not having cold weather, but I do worry that it's just not quite right!
thanks for the tip on the movie; we had lousy weather yesterday so i stayed in and sewed all day long, niiiiiice!
ReplyDeleteMy early blooming daffodils are up now and have buds on them. If it stays warm, they should bloom this week, about a month before they usually would. I feel like you do: the worst is yet to come. It was 71 in Richmond yesterday, and we've had no snow to speak of this year. I'm loving it but dreading the cold I'm sure is coming.
ReplyDeleteI noticed spring popping up all over too and wrote a blogpost about it last night to be posted later this week!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to get your machine tuned up! I need to find a guy like that here!
I am nervous about all of the "early bloomers". Winter isn't over yet! In fact, we ahve gone back into the freezing temps after weeks of unseasonably warm stuff!
ReplyDeleteLove that Wizard machine. I have a 60 year old Bernina, but it is no featherweight. You wouldn't want to take it on trips. But it still works great!
Your Wizard is a real beauty.
ReplyDeleteI was excited to see a picture of it because I bought something very similar yesterday at Salvation Army. Mine is a portable, mint/cream, New Home. It says Deluxe on the bed and has a Good Housekeeper plate at the spot where yours says Wizard. Mine is set up the same, including the feed dog dial, tension discs on the side and stitch length adjustment. It was perfectly clean and just needed some oil. The vintage machines are so sweet and pretty, but they are real work horses too. And, I love that they were made to be serviced by the owner. I have a question for you though. Do you know what the spool pin that sits on the bed is for? Is it to hold extra bobbins?
Anyways, it's nice to see that mine has a cousin out there. It's the first one that I saw that looked so similar. I'm sure mine will get lots of use, but it is HEAVY so I probably won't take it out much.
Love Stephanie Plum! I didn't know they were making a movie so I'll can look forward to seeing it now. Hope it doesn't take too long to get here (New Zealand)
ReplyDeleteI've had one of those Ikea lights for my vintage machines for quite a while. They are great. Mine is black. I love the 'Wizard' machine. That is one I just may have to find for my collection. Our family are HUGE Harry Potter fans, and a machine with the name 'Wizard' would be great!
ReplyDeleteI knew they were making One for the Money but imagined other actresses in the role of Stephanie and Grandma Mazur. I thought Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinnie) would make a great Stephanie and Cloris Leachman would be a great Grandma Mazur. I haven't seen the movie yet and can't wait until it gets here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review for "One for the Money. I love the book series and can't wait to see the movie.
ReplyDeleteI discovered the Ikea task light, too. I'm amazed at how wonderful it works and is only $10. I want to get one for all my quilter friends.
ReplyDelete