Another Strip Twist Quilt

Here's what I've been doing lately... Girly pink quilt, anyone? I've had these pink, mauve and purple fat quarters in my stash for a lonnnng time (see the stashbusters ring picture on the left where I substituted a pic of my stuffed pink fabric drawer.) I've been thinking I'd like to use them all up in a more controlled color scrap quilt, using Bonnie's strip twist pattern from Quiltville:



This is a third of it. I plan to make two more sections like this, then I've also started cutting out the leftover bits of strips to make a pieced border. I've been stitching them together as leader/ender squares between blocks, so that'll go pretty quickly too.

I've already done a strip twist, and really liked the way it turned out. I'd picked colors for that one to make a guy-type quilt... if you want to see one I gave my brother, click here for pictures of a strip twist in olive greens, rusts, beiges, mustard, etc. They're easy to make, and I love the way it looks set on point without all the bother of cutting setting triangles for the edge.

Also been thinking of machine applique'ing something on top of this one, perhaps in the dark purple or maybe red - a trio of big hearts? A curled up egg-shape of a sleeping siamese cat on one corner? Any suggestions? I think I'll wait and see how busy it gets when I've put the pieced border on.

Splish Splash

Got up at my normal time this morning, had to be at work at 9:30... headed for the bathroom to take a shower... and my whole bathroom floor was an inch deep in water. Somehow, overnight, my toilet had sprung a leak.

Thankfully, I hadn't washed clothes yesterday, so I had half a load of lights and half a load of darks (including two dark green towels) all sorted out on the floor, and they soaked up most of the water before it got to my bedroom carpet. The carpet's a little damp, but only at the edge. I wasn't able to turn the water off under the toilet because THAT little valve was broken, but I was able to turn it down to where the leak was manageable. Funny how you never know that your shutoff valve doesn't work until you need to use it. :)

AND thankfully, I was able to find a plumber to come out on Saturday...



These guys are from Best Rooter - That's Stan Holman on the right, holding the tank. If you're in the Memphis area and need a plumber, I highly recommend these guys - he gave me permission to put his number online... call (901)358-1008 or cell (901)864-5700.

First thing they did was turn the water off at the street and replace the valve to stop the leak... Turns out, I needed a whole new toilet.

But also turns out that a gasket was missing, the one that goes between the tank and the toilet, (I'm just parroting what they say, I have no knowledge of the inner workings of toilets) so off they went again to Home Depot for that. But it's fixed now, and I have the cleanup to do, all the wet clothes and grubby floor. Fun day, huh?

Popsicles!

It's been HOT for the last week here in Memphis, temps with highs in the triple digits every day. I found some great popsicles at the store, pineapple cherry and pineapple mango, so I selected 'Cool Summer Treats' for the guild's block of the month theme:

http://www.ucquilts.com/bomaugust2007.htm

Of course, as block of the month chairperson and web page maker, I have to make a sample myself, every month, so here's my two:



And here's Toby, waiting from the couch for his chance to park his rear end on the two new blocks, but innocently pretending he's not watching them:

Van News

Well, got my van back, and it looks like new. Drives great, they fixed the driver's seat, replaced that inside cargo area, everything. Dobbs Collision here in Memphis did a wonderful job for me:


Scroll down if you want to see a before picture. ;) Now, the only thing I want is a couple of things that were in the back cargo area of the van replaced. First, being inspected by the nosier half of my resident siamese inspection team, my big cooler was damaged and needs to be replaced:



The cooler was sideways in the back of the van, so I had room beside it for other stuff, and when the back of the van was squinched in, it pushed the two short ends of the cooler in, and the edges bulged out, cracking the plastic at all 4 corners and breaking the handle (the one you see there) that was closest to the hatch door. On the left side, the squinching pulled the white liner away from the blue outside, and on the right side, the blue stayed stuck to the white, instead it created a long crack along the corner rim of the liner.



They wanted to know what size it was, but the cooler didn't say on the side... just the name Coleman. I put the red Igloo 12 inside the blue one so they could see that it is bigger than a 12 can cooler.

It also broke my sunglasses, which were in the same cargo area - normally I carry them up front with me and they don't leave the car, but I was using the coolers AND the sunglasses, and they both ended up in the back. Here's what they look like now:



Yes, they were prescription, and for insurance purposes, there's a copy of my prescription on the left. If I can get them replaced before the prescription gets a year old, I won't have to pay to get my eyes examined again. I have till Sept. 22. On the right is an estimate for replacement from Walmart. Frames $99 and lenses $178. And I don't even think that includes getting the edges rolled and polished, which I DID have on these sunglasses. Bifocals get expensive, don't they?

The thing that irks me is that when I got these wire frames not too long ago, they didn't have many BIG lensed frames to choose from. The little 'frame selection associate' at the store I got them from told me in all seriousness ... "But NObody wears big frames anymore, the longer narrow frames are what's in style." I don't care what's in style, I like big sunglasses. And ALL the movie stars I see trying to evade the paparazzi are wearing big dark lenses... lol.

Anyway, I'll send the blog address to all the insurance folks, and I have more pix I can send (say, if they really want to see all 4 corners of the cooler) and I can fax a copy of the glasses estimate and prescription if they need it. I think since I was honest and didn't try to claim whiplash or back or neck injury, the least they can do is replace these two things, don't you?