Three days with NO hammering, sanding, etc.......

Today is the first day of 3 days in a row with NO hammering (or sanding or other construction-related noises) around here! That means I can catch up on my medical typing. Also, hubby and I are going to paint the bedroom. The guys who are putting the new ceiling in place in that room made sure their tools and supplies are out of the way so we can do that easily. I chose a beige / tan color...very neutral but better than the white that is on the walls now (builder's white paint). I will make valances and throw pillow covers and have the room look "new" once the construction is done and our furniture is taken out of the storage pod.

Anyway...........below are some photos of blocks I have done from the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler book I got (and showed here a day or two back). I am enjoying doing these. The whole quilt has 140 blocks and I intend to do all of them. I was puzzling about what color scheme to use and then decided to do it all scrappy....and then tie it all together with sashing and borders. I am picking fabrics I have in my stash (so far) and really like...but ones for which I had no other plans.

These are the first 2 blocks I made.....called Album 2 and Friendship Star. The Friendship Star looks light here but it's got slightly better contrast when you see it in person or if you click to enlarge it. The Friendship Star is a very easy block and Album 2 wasn't difficult, either.
This was the next block I made.......called Blazing Star. It has the Y seams....and there were 8 sections where they had to be used (2 seams per section), so it had an appropriate name...BLAZING...as it was trial by fire for me to make this block! I had to do the Y seams by hand....because I made a mess doing it by machine. If you click on it and look closely, you will see it's not perfect (centers don't match exactly) and it's a little "bumpy" in spots..... BUT I have declared it fine enough to go into the quilt. You know the old saying...."It will quilt out". I could tell I got much better with the Y seams by the end of the block, though, so I don't anticipate trouble in the remaining blocks with Y seams.After doing the difficult (to me) Y seamed Blazing Star block, I allowed myself to do an easy one.....this Churn Dash block. So...I now have 4 of the blocks done and "only" 136 to go. How long do you think it will take me to make this quilt top?? LOL

Before and after roof photos.....

I am happy to report that with the exception of a few small details (like cutting in the bathroom exhaust vent and putting the scoop roof vents in place and getting the gutters done (and the bad siding replaced), the roof work is DONE. Three solid days of constant hammering (with that air-driven nail gone) was nearly enough to drive me bonkers and I couldn't do any of my medical typing as I need mostly quiet in order to transcribe the tapes. ANYWAY....I'm glad we are to this point of the repair work. Here is a before and after photo of the roof. The before photo shows the tree on the roof and also shows how badly the algae had "attacked" our old roof...even though Gary never lets leaves and "junk" stay up there. It is obvious the quality of the original roof was quite poor. Luckily, our insurance company allowed a much better quality roof to go on the house....a 25-year roof with ultra algae resistance. The after picture shows a huge improvement. (Don't mind the workers and their stuff on the roof.) I like the color as it looks nice with our shutters. The shutters have faded and we will repaint them this fall, but they will only be a tiny bit darker and will still look nice with this new roof. Thanks for all the support I have gotten from all of you during these difficult few weeks. One more week of inside repairs and we should be in very good shape.

The BEFORE photo (click to enlarge, if you wish)......just ignore the developer's sloppy weeds and unkempt areas on the side of the fence where I was standing to take the picture. (If we kept our yard that sloppy way, he'd be on our backs big time!!!)
And here is the AFTER photo....slightly different angle, but you can get the idea. Big improvement, don't you agree?

Check out Linda's giveaway.....

Linda of Fiber Fabrications (click HERE) is having a multi-day giveaway. Be sure to check it out. She is adding something to it each day!!!

See the cute Superior Scribblers' Award on my sidebar? I will blog about that in the next few days.

Connecting Threads was having a book sale (still going on, in case you are interested). They are offering 40% off all in-stock books and if you order more than $50 worth, you get free shipping. Here are the books I got.....click on them to see them larger. I'm happy with all of them!!! I hope to make many (if not all) the blocks in the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler (Elm Creek Quilts) book....but I see some have Y seams and I'm kind of afraid of them. Do any of you have advice about Y seams (or know of a good tutorial for them?)

Day # 7 of repairs and a giveaway link.....

Chris is having a giveaway....go HERE to find out about it. I found out about it from our blogging buddy, Gene.

Day # 7 of repair work saw a good part of the old roofing materials torn off and new roofing materials put on that section. Work will continue today and for part of tomorrow and then the roof itself should be done. There will still be some outside work (new siding on the side of the house most damaged by the falling tree) as well as the new gutters. However, once the roof is done, they can proceed with the cathedral ceiling work inside the house....and since that isn't weather dependent, we should be on target to get the inside work finished by September 10 and the contents of our two rooms can come out of the storage pod and be brought back into the house (by the workers). Whew.......I know I'm thinking several days ahead, but.....I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Okay...now the good news about my sewing machine. In a nutshell, the gal talked to me about a silly (to ME) threading thing on this particular Janome....the Memory Craft 4900QC machine. I knew about this silly little thing. When I thread this model, I must push the needle up/down button TWICE, which I do (and had never seen done when threading any machine I've used). A little green light then comes on to thread it...which means all the inside mechanisms are in the exact correct spot. (This little green light had never been mentioned to me until today....not when I bought the machine NOR when I took the 3 classes....although it is in the manual.) IF you touch the turn wheel of the machine or bump into it even the slightest bit (which I may do when reaching for a new spool of thread) or move the needle the tiniest bit, the green light goes out. Now...I have to admit I don't keep my eyes fixed on that little green light. Well....if that light goes off, even if the thread is put by me in all the correct places, it doesn't go exactly in this one spot inside the machine where it needs to go unless that green light is on and the mechanism is in the exact correct spot. The dealer took the machine apart slightly to show Kaye and me. Kaye thought to ask her why it wouldn't malfunction right away instead of waiting for an hour or more of sewing time...which is a very good and logical question and that is what it did for me.....and the gal really didn't have an answer for us about that. However, she did tell us that after putting it on this model sewing machine, Janome did not put it on any other machine. That tells me it was a troublesome feature of the machine...and probably caused the same problem for many people, so they eliminated it in future machines they made. The machine came right home with me after the gal unjammed my quilt block and showed us the inner workings of the machine. You can bet my eye will be GLUED on that stupid little green light from now on when threading the machine. I don't have to thread it differently than I've done as I'm doing it correctly (one should hope after nearly 50 years of sewing!)....but I do need to make sure the little green light is on. (Gee...wonder what happens if the green light burns out????? Guess I'll have to be afraid to finish threading the machine until the light is fixed.) I was very glad Kaye was with me....as she calmed my nerves when we went into the store as I was ready to do battle with them. Kaye also remembered to ask WHY it didn't do this the minute I threaded the machine, which I wanted to ask but forgot. Thanks, Kaye, for being such a great pal. We both got some nice fabric there and then went to lunch and for some other things at Walmart. We had a nice day.

On the way home, I picked up my mail at the mailbox and got some books I'd ordered from Connecting Threads. There's a story with that and I'll try to remember to put it in my next post...as this one has grown too long already. I'll leave you with a photo of my "test" block for my February cottage for the block swap I'm in now. Good thing I did a "test" of it as it turned out too small...but I made a second one and it came out fine. IF you are in that swap and don't want to see it yet, don't look at the photo!!! Of course, not all of them will be the same (so yours might be different) AND there's enough time between now and February for you to forget what this looked like, so you might want to peek now anyway. LOL I just needed small projects to keep me busy while the roofers pound away at my house.... and this was one of them. Cute, huh? I think if you click on the photo, you might have guessed it was the February block without my telling you. :-)

Day #6 of repairs....yet to happen!!!

Yesterday started out with a very fine drizzle right at the time the general contractor had to decide whether or not to send roofers here. You guessed it...he decided against it. While we didn't have any heavy rain, we did have enough sprinkles that it might have proved a problem. SO....now today is scheduled to be nice (keeping my fingers crossed) and tomorrow, too.....and the roofers may be able to get all the old roofing materials off and carted away and get the new roof done by tomorrow afternoon or at some point on Thursday. Once they get that done, the bulk of the work is inside...the cathedral ceilings going back in the two "off-limit" rooms.....and weather shouldn't affect things then......thank goodness!

I have been keeping myself busy so my mind doesn't get overloaded with thoughts about the repairs and the broken sewing machine. I am going today to take the machine back to the dealer. Janome was in touch with me in reply to my email and said the dealers are independent of them and I need to discuss my dissatisfaction with the dealer....also told me to be sure I'm threading the machine correctly. What is up with that??? I've sewn for nearly 50 years on many machines and know how to thread a machine....actually threaded this one in front of the salesgirl when I was buying it AND at the 3 classes I took that were offered with the machine (and that was done in front of the instructor) and nobody said I was doing it wrong. I also think if I had threaded it wrong, the malfunction would have occurred immediately....not several hours after it had been threaded, ya know? I emailed back to Janome and told them the dealer didn't manufacture the machine and I think Janome should stand by the machine and not wash their hands of it...especially when a machine that isn't a year old has malfunctioned seriously twice and been unusable. I'll update tomorrow as to how it goes at the dealer today. Kaye is going with me for support and I'm sure she won't let them talk circles around me! I want to thank all of YOU for your supportive comments and emails. I did tell Janome...and will tell the dealer...that I have blogged about it and many are waiting to see how the situation is resolved. (Maybe they won't want me to speak ill of them here and that will light a fire under them?? I hope so.)

Yesterday I decided to do a small Halloween table runner (photo below...click to enlarge, if you wish)....probably for my daughter as the grandkids will like it...using the disappearing 9-patch. I still need to sandwich it and quilt it and put a binding on it, but I think it's cute....and it took me not even an hour to get it to this point. OH...and how did it get to be September already????? It seems like it was just June with the too-cool days and the too-much rain and we were waiting and waiting for summer....and now it's already September. *sigh*

Disappearing 9-patch progress......

Even though I had to go to a back-up sewing machine (and even though my "good" new Janome ate one of my quilt blocks), I did manage to get all the blocks made. This picture shows them laid out in rows. I see at least two blocks I'm going to move around, but....overall....I'm very happy with the way it has turned out so far. I don't think I'm going to do a border. It's plenty big enough for a throw...and that's what I wanted. I think I may get out some of my seasonal fabrics and make some easy table runners using the disappearing 9-patch method, because I found it fun to do.This is a bit of a close-up shot. You should be able to click on it to see it closer.
Please keep hoping and praying for good weather here so the roof work can get completed SOON. The stress is beginning to get to me! It's exactly a month ago today that the tree came down on the roof. (We chose to delay the start of repairs, as you may recall, until Aug. 24 since we had the grandkids....but now I want it finished....fast!)

Is this cute....or what?

If you want to make your own "street sign", click HERE.

WOW...yesterday my blog hit 100 followers. You know I have been pretty set on not having my giveaways posted on YOUR blogs......so I am kind of amazed that I've gotten so many followers just by "being here".....and not because of giveaways. Thanks to all of you who make it such fun for me to check in here on a daily basis. (I will end up having a giveaway once this house repair business is done and I can get my life a bit back in order!!!)

AND...if you click HERE to go to a blog called Artfully Ooglebloops, you can join as a follower and be eligible for a cute giveaway she is having. She will award the prize when she has 75 followers and she is getting close. So....go on over there and help her reach her goal and maybe you'll be the one to win the prize!

Yesterday my Janome (haven't had it a year yet until September 5), died again. It makes an ugly noise and "eats" my fabric (and of course it was one of my blocks for my disappearing 9-patch....*sigh*). This same problem happened in March when it was only 6 months old and they SAID they replaced the main part of the machine at that time....also said they found nothing wrong with it but did that replacement as a "courtesy" to me since I didn't have confidence in the machine since it stopped working after only 6 months. GEE.....wonder how many folks WOULD have confidence in a machine like that? Anyway....it's been fine until yesterday and then it did the SAME thing as it did in March. Now I find myself wondering if they really did replace anything. I have to talk to the gal Monday afternoon and then drive 35 miles each way to take it to them to be fixed. I sent an email to Janome's headquarters....telling them I don't find this machine reliable and I NEED a reliable machine OR my money refunded. I will tell that to the dealer, also. I had to borrow my Husqvarna back from my girlfriend. That works beautifully but didn't have all the features I wanted. I have an even older machine...a Singer...about 23 years old....and it also works just fine but no modern features. There's something sad about a new (and not cheap) machine crapping out every 6 months while the older ones chug along just fine with no special servicing being done on them at all. Can you tell I am NOT happy about this Janome? It's the Memory Craft 4900QC, in case any of you were wondering. I'm thinking there may be some kind of design flaw in that model...as it sure doesn't work reliably from my experience with it.