The first major non-ice storm of 2023 just went over us and I have to say I was quite impressed. According to WFAA we had 80 MPH straight-line winds, lots of donder and blitzen, large hail in some areas, and a couple of tornadoes around the Metroplex (but none in Plano—yay for TI Skunkworks!). It’s now headed towards Arkansas and points east, and part of it is going to head north and dump a buttload of snow on the northern states from what the weather report is saying.
Of course, the sirens sounded pretty much continuously for about fifteen minutes while the light show went on outside. The power flickered a number of times, which apparently was the last straw for the UPS in my office that powers my writing desk because the battery went poof. Lyndon dug out a massive surge suppressor for me and I have everything plugged into that for now (I’m more concerned about everything being on a surge suppressor than a UPS. If we lose power and the desktop shuts down over night, oh well). There are a couple of places in the area where I can pick up a replacement battery so I’ll see about doing that over the weekend.
I am also sincerely grateful that we still have power, since apparently a lot of local friends don’t). The fence seems to be okay from what I can see and I’ll do a roof inspection tomorrow once it’s light.
Now I have an idea for a short story that came to me while I was crouched over the back of my futon for five minutes holding a water bowl so that J.J. could drink from it undisturbed.
Let’s be honest, writers spend a lot of time sitting. Yeah, some of them have standing or even walking desks (and I have no idea how those folks manage to walk and type at the same time—I’d fall over within the first thirty seconds), but the bulk of us nail butt to chair while we’re churning out our wordage.
As of last night I finished the swing dress I’d started a couple of years ago. I’d already cut out all the pieces, but things happened so it got stuffed in the closet along with two other batches of fabric I’d bought to make two other dresses in the same pattern.
Now I LOVE swing dresses. They look great on me, and I have three or so of them from Torrid, but when I found this awesome skulls and roses fabric I knew I wanted to make a swing dress out of it (and prove that the pattern would work on my body so that I could make more if I wanted to).
About a month or so ago our ancient treadmill conked out, much to my dismay but not to my surprise (it was at least 17 years old and the picture above was taken when we were still in the apartment). Since replacing it was simply not in the budget at this time and even a new motor would require saving up for a few month I’ve been making do with walking around the house in laps (I’ve gone outside a couple of times when the weather is nice). But spoiled first worlder that I am, I really missed my virtual walks through Vegas, New Orleans, London, et al on my iPad while I walked on the treadmill.
Here is a shot of Mexican Nights, made from the scraps left over from the Dia de los Muertos quilt I did for my friend E. The quilt is 4.5′ square and uses the leftover Virgin Mary motif from the bigger quilt, as well as some of the specialty fabric I’d used on the back and for the 9-block squares I’d done for that quilt.
This is also the biggest quilt I’ve quilted on my home machine in years and I can tell. Man, my shoulders are aching from managing that much fabric as I pushed it under the needle. But I like the way it turned out and I really like the wave motif I used on the lattices.
The hearts were all hand-drawn directly onto the fabric before quilting so they’re not perfect, but I like the way they look. They work as quilting motifs, especially on this 9-block square.
So there I was, looking at the wall hanging that needed some freehand quilting to be completed, and I really wanted to take a crack at a wave pattern for the latticework.
There’s nothing quite as special as climbing into a perfectly clean bed that smells great, snuggling down to sleep … and suddenly your brain treats you to a 3-D presentation on all the things that could go disastrously wrong in the near future.
We’re catching just the very southernmost edge of Winter Storm Olive (and I am grateful for small favors), but now that I am a Woman of a Certain Age I can most definitely feel weather changes come in a few days before they hit. Quite apart from all my joints aching (still managed to wash the bedding and clear out the dead lantana from two flower beds, though, so go me), I’m just so bloody tired at the moment. I asked the Brit if we could forage for dinner tonight and he kindly went out and brought in a cooked chicken from the store, and I almost nodded off downstairs a couple of minutes ago. If my duvet wasn’t still in the dryer I think I’d give up and go to sleep right now.
Even unquilted they’re surprisingly heavy. I suspect when I get the backing and batting on they’re going to be very cozy for the cold weather months.
Library of Dreams is a twin quilt made with batik strips I’d picked up at the Dallas Quilt Show a couple of years ago matched with latticework made from white-on-white cotton fabric and a pretty cool-colored batik (which also serves as the border). This one is for my niece Jessica (and if any family members read this I’m happy to make a quilt for you—just tell me size and color preferences and don’t expect it before December).
Garden Path
Garden Path is a full quilt made with two types of green floral fabric, two types of cream floral fabric, and one type of mauve floral (because I’d bought enough of that type). This is the quilt that uses a pattern from an old quilt I bought when I first got to Dallas. The quilt fell apart within the year, but I was able to draft the pattern with the intention of recreating it in lavender, green, and cream.
Sunflower Memories is a queen quilt made with antique sunflower motifs appliqued to white-on-white cotton squares and set in lattices made from dark green and sunflower fabric. The border is made from a floral fabric featuring sunflowers, bees, and a golden honeycomb pattern on a black background with a gold stripe and pale orange corner squares.
Back in 2002 or so I’d found a quilt top made from thirty hand-sewn sunflowers attached to a white cotton surround. The white cotton was fraying badly but apart from some bleaching here and there the sunflower motifs were still in pretty good condition.
A quick trip to Joann later, and I had a golden stripe around the existing border, then added the remaining black honeycomb fabric strips with light orange corner squares that echoed the orange in the motifs (frankly, I’m utterly shocked that I was able to find a color that matched so closely). And what had originally been a full quilt became a queen quilt.
Melanie Fletcher 