Are YOU Going to Drive the Truck?

This morning, when I dropped off the van--a local rental--and picked up the truck--a one-way to Santa Fe rental, the manager asked, "are YOU going to drive the truck?"

It is a little daunting ... but I did manage to drive it back to the apartment and park it in the space between two carports and miss the tree out front.

I was reminded of my first U-Haul adventure, when I drove a truck-full of my belongings 2400 miles from Sonoma, California to Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I stayed with quilter friends in Utah and Nebraska and the husband of one of the friends was out of town, but told his wife that he would like to have met a woman that would drive a U-Haul across the country.

This morning I assured the manager that although I wasn't sure if I had driven a truck quite this big, I did manage to drive a truck towing my vehicle through snow and ice for 1200 miles. I blogged about that trip, here.

This is a very big truck--I actually reserved a smaller one, but when U-Haul offered a larger truck at the same price, I took them up on their offer ... remembering how, despite assurances from the movers in Michigan that all my belongings would fit in the truck I had rented, ultimately they didn't.  I'm not looking forward to driving this beast across Texas, but, at least, I know that all my belongings will fit.

When I drove from California to Michigan, the truck broke down in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming and I waited for almost 5 hours for help.  When I drove from Michigan to Texas, the trailer (with my car on it) had a flat and I was on the side of the road, dodging snow plows, after only about 5 minutes on the road.  This truck was supposed to have a 1/4 tank of gas in it, but the fuel gage is resting at less than empty--cross your fingers for me that after it is loaded and I'm on my way, I make it to gas station in time ... and that there are no vehicle problems.

I don't like crowds

As much as I like music and live performance and the idea of the Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) that began today, the thought of attending a party for 70,000 kept me away. I'll be watching from afar on YouTube this weekend.

OK, it's not that afar. The parking lots and ramps at the office park where I work were designated as official ACL parking.  I knew this so planned ahead and went into the office extra early–at 7AM, I still had to queue in a line of traffic including two large buses to get far enough to talk to the security guys and make my case for being able to park without an ACL permit.  I was told I could be towed . . .

The performances started just after 11AM. By 2PM, no one was coming into the parking lot, and cars lined both sides of the street as far away as my apartment complex ... where some festival goers were actually sneaking in by following residents through the gate and then parking and scaling the 8' fences to get out and walk to Zilker park. I happened to be picking up a package at the office when three "dumbest criminal" types were scaling the fence right outside the office while the property manager and I watched as she opened the door for me and my big box.

Hmmm ... it just occurred to me that if I subscribed to the for-pay version of YouTube, I could watch and listen and SEW . . .  I barely sewn more than sample blocks for the September Block Lotto (so I could write directions) and I think I could really benefit from some ME (and my fabric) time ;-)

I can't resist sharing

Yup, another record-breaking day.   But look at what's coming ... days with temps less than a hundred are on the horizon.

My Prairie Gothic Wing Chairs

It's been a pretty lousy couple of weeks at sophie junction ... though maybe I'll whine about it later, since the week seems to be ending on a pleasant note. The upholsterer delivered these chairs this morning and I am very pleased with the result.

I bought the chairs when I moved to Dallas (after donating ALL my living room furniture in Michigan).  I found them on Craigs list.  They were in rough shape, upholstered in a pale green silk that was falling apart, but they had great bones and I could tell that they were once fine furniture.

Then I got stuck, both in making a decision about what fabric/color to cover them with and finding someone to do the work.

Earlier this year, I went on the hunt for a large scale organic print.  I remembered that some of Jane Sassaman's fabric had been printed on lightweight canvas for home deco ... and the hunt began.  I found an Etsy vendor, Imagine Fabric,  with a 15 yard bolt of this print from Prairie Gothic and I knew it was the one.

Didn't John's Upholstery do an amazing job in  wrapping that large print around the chair (and getting everything to end up symmetrical and matching)?

Next home deco project on the horizon . . . painting a floor cloth using these colors.   I'm thinking thick and thin stripes in blue, red, green and pink.

How to talk about the weather

The TV weathermen have gone from counting the days so far this year with temps at 100 or higher, to counting the consecutive "three-digit days" to counting the days with record-breaking highs . . . and now consecutive record-breaking days.

A friend kindly asked today if it wasn't better than the bitter cold of winters in Michigan–lately, I'm less sure.

This morning, my goal was to get to the Farmer's Market, run errands and get back home before the temperature made it to 100. I made it–when I got home and put everything away, it was only (only!) 94. 

I don't think I'm the only one with this mindset–the Farmer's Market near me was bustling this morning and lots of people were talking about the weather.

Signs of a Good Lunch Place

This week I've been bouncing back and forth between old apartment and new, preparing for the move, moving some of the small stuff, figuring out where/how everything will fit . . .  and I confess that I've been grabbing too many meals on the run.

Today, as I stood in line to order a mojo fish taco for lunch today, it struck me that any place with a line out the door and people willing to sit outside to eat in 100-degree heat has to be pretty good.

So far, everything I've tried from their menu has been yummy, so the signs seem correct.

Keeping Cool at a Quilt Show

Last weekend, a friend invited me to go with her to the Wildflower Quilt Guild's show in Temple. Here's a detail photo of the Best of show quilt, Anesthesia, by Janet Smith, quilted by Linda Buckner. You can see the entire quilt here: Anesthesia and all my photos from the show in my Flickr photo set, Wildflower Quilt Guild Show.

When Karen and I came across this Underground Railroad quilt, by Don and Phyllis Baker, we both confessed to having block of the month kits and decided to challenge one another to finish them.  She's already started work on hers . . . I won't be able to get to mine until after I'm moved and settled in. 

 

It was a really nice show and an impressive effort for a relatively small guild (about 100 members).  After the show, we stopped for lunch at Las Casas, a local Tex Mex restaurant.  It's well known for something called white wings–jalapeno and cheese wrapped in chicken breast meat, then wrapped with a couple strips of bacon and grilled.

 

Made smaller, I think they'd make great appetizers for a party . . .  another thing to add to the project list for AFTER the move is done.

Only a Quilter

Yesterday I was on the hunt for small moving boxes. I found some at a near-to-my-new apartment home improvement store . . . along with these sheets of Styrofoam (tm) insulation.

Maybe only another quilter will know immediately what this means and why it makes me so happy ;-)

Walking Around Campus with Friends

Barbara and Debra were in Austin last week and invited me to join them.

We sat and talked about quilting and our lives a lot and walked around a little–because it was one of those triple-digit-days which have become the norm around here.

If you have seen some of their Madonna quilts, then you know that when we walked past this building on the way to lunch, it was a photographic opportunity for a portrait of them that I couldn't pass up. 

After lunch, there was a quick stop in a vintage clothing store, then we walked through campus, where we ran into Barbara Jordan and Cesar Chavez . . . and some sunning turtles.

We finished the day with more sitting, more talking, some show and tell and then dinner. Thanks ladies.
 

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be ...

. . . talk to recruiters day.  I'm not complaining–job hunting is much easier when the phone is ringing.  I suspect that, on Monday, staffing agencies start their week by looking at their new requirements and looking through resumes for a match; then on Tuesdays, the recruiters reach out and touch all the people behind those resumes.

On the job front, I AM talking to lots of recruiters and interviewing with interesting companies–both on the phone and in person–but . . . am beginning to have that always a bridesmaid, never the bride feeling as the feedback continues to be that they liked me for the position and the decision was close, but . . . they went with another candidate.

This morning, before it hotted up to what is expected to be another record-breaking high, I went for a walk to the post office and the grocery store. I dug out a straw hat with a wide brim and thought about how I will rework it a little for this summer.  The Lantana trees near my house are already in full bloom and looking gorgeous.

Outside the post-office, under the eaves, on top of spikes clearly intended to discourage nest building, there were several nests like these–look close and you'll see mama sitting atop that mess, guarding her eggs.

She made me wonder if all species have the ability to be stubborn?

She also made me think of a friend who recently told me in an email that she hasn't yet turned on only air conditioner–a window air conditioner with a potted plant on top of it ... a Carolina wren made a nest in a potted plant.  She's hoping for cool weather because it's going to be a while before the eggs hatch and before the babies fledge.

Seriously, doesn't it seem a little bit beyond instinctual and just plain stubborn, birds taking on man and building construction when they choose to build their own homes?

I confess to spending most of my time in air-conditioned comfort . . . though it does seem to be a little bit crazy to be knitting when the weather is like this.  

Actually, the knitting temporarily stopped on Friday because, even though I have been knitting with fingers crossed . . . on Thursday night, I ran out of yarn . . . with 10 long rows to go. Even unblocked, I think it's looking pretty wonderful.

 

The pattern did say that I would need a bit more yarn than I had, but I was using a different weight yarn than any of the options listed on the pattern and someone on Ravelry who had made the same pattern using exactly the same yarn, said she used less–in fact exactly the same number of skeins as me . . . so while I thought it would be close, I believed I would make it. 

Thursday night, when the yarn ran out, I looked online and only found a single skein, on clearance.  Miraculously, it was the same color, though undoubtedly a different dye lot.  The shipping was almost twice the cost of the sale-priced skein of yarn.  I decided to sleep on it. 

Friday, I woke up with an idea of how I could shorten the last border, which is at the top in this photo,  and make it work. I unknit several rows and then re-knit them.  I knew I wasn't going to like the proportions, but I persevered.  But I didn't account for how much yarn the "elastic bind off" was going to take and when I had a little more than half of the three hundred and some stitches bound off . . . it once again became clear that I didn't have enough yarn.   And so, once again, I unraveled the bound off stitches and put everything back on the needles and then backed out my foreshortened last border, reknit the pattern as written as far as I could go and . . . called the yarn shop in Rhode Island that has the last skein of this rough silk yarn. 

As a result of my experimentation, I know I want to knit the last border as written because it creates the swallow-tail that gives this shawl it's name.  So even if the new yarn, when it arrives, is a bad match, I will likely use it . . . and overdye the whole thing to conceal the mis-matched dye lots.

I suppose I'm being a little stubborn, too, and really want to knit the shawl as written no matter what (even with yarn from mis-matched dye lots ;-)

Until then, I am thinking about the next summer knit . . . I think I have some cotton yarn in my stash that might be perfect for the Boutique Sweater that Crazy Aunt Purl has been blogging about. It's another one of those knits that are right for the air conditioned summer environment.

For the Birds

On way the way home from work yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.

As I was walking across the parking lot and into the building, I felt a little like an extra in the a certain Hitchcock classic.

Many of the birds flew away before I snapped this (bad) photo on my phone . . . none came swooping in my direction.  The rest waited for their opportunity.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ...

It's beginning to look a lot like AUTUMN around here . . . and I find myself re-writing lyrics to popular holiday tunes. It all started after I read this blog post by a Texas author whose version of The weather outside is PLEASANT . . . seemed just so perfect.

Today, on the first day of WINTER, the weather experts are predicting a high in the 80's.

I confess that I miss the snow a little--though definitely not shoveling it or driving in it or none of the other ugly, cold, dangerous aspects of a real winter.

Friday Night Sew-in at the Honey Bee

Nancie, a friend from the Liberated Quilters yahoo group told me about the Honey Bee Quilt Shop and UFO nights there. I was thrilled to find out that the shop is a 10 minute drive from where I'm working--close enough for a lunch run ... if I really need something. In fact, I made a lunch run on Friday to check for a new issue of a magazine and to check if I was going to be able to move up off the waiting list for UFO night.

What a nice bit of synchronicity that it was the same night as the Friday Night Sew-In ;-)

This time, my sew-in was the literal, in person variety.  It was great to meet quilts in my new area and see what everyone was working on.  The store had just hung all the samples for their new classes and new $5 quilt (aka Five at the Hive). I faded earlier than most and left around 11 PM.  But I did get to see at least one UFO "finish."

 

The color in the detail photo of Bevo (the UT mascot) on the right is very washed out, but you CAN see how great he is--don't you love how one of his horns reaches out into the churn dash blocks?

I spent the time getting to know the regulars and working on this month's lotto blocks--tree pairs in jewel tones with black:

I also took some in-progress photos of how I made my tree block pairs. You can find them, with my notes, here:  Adding Complexity to the Free-style Tree Block.

My phone (in the pink wrapper) was out because I was using it to show the ladies all the other great tree blocks that have been made so far.  If you're curious, you can see them here.

Edited to add that the Honey Bee Quilt Store has added some nice photos of Becky's Longhorn Quilt on their blog.

Good News, Good News and ... not so good news

You can probably look at the photo and guess what the good news is . . . yesterday, I started work.  It's a contract, but it is real, meaningful work and I'm thrilled to be there.  Here's my desk at lunch today–I brought in this little bit of appliqué in an effort to distract my brain during lunch. With so much new information flooding in as I work to learn as much as I can as fast as I can, it's been really hard to force myself to take a break or . . . go to sleep at night.

If I can get organized enough in my sleep-deprived state to keep bringing hand-work along and force myself to take a mid-day break, I will also make some quilting progress, which is definitely more good news.

Layer this week, when cooler temperatures are forecast, I may even venture outside . . . for lunch and stitching (it will be so much harder to be pulled back in to working when the computer beeps to tell me I have a new meeting or the idea to look up something pops into my head and jump back into my working mind completely on my own.

On the not so good news front, my poor old Explorer is still in the shop.

As a friend pointed out, the longer they keep it, the more likely I am to have my first paycheck in hand . . .

Subtle Signs of Autumn in Austin Texas

Fall has arrived, but the changes are far more subtle than in more northern locations.

The days are still sunny and warm, with temperatures in the 80's and sometimes higher, but the nights are cooler and the humidity has, for the most part, moved on.

Although things are still really quite green, an occasional tree, like this one shows a little color.

The job market feels like it is picking up after summer and I keep hearing from recruiters in a way that finally feels like a normal job search. I continue to be hopeful that my move to Austin was the right thing to do.

I want to pull my yarn stash out of storage and knit things.  I want to pull out some quilting UFO's and unquilted tops and finish and use them.

I am planning to join Heidi and more than a hundred of her friends tonight for the October Friday Night Sew-in.  I will likely work on some scrappy liberated stars for the Block Lotto or play catch-up with Bonnie's hand-pieced blocks–she recently posted October.  Either way, it feels great to get back to doing creative things.

I FINALLY Do Something Quilty in Austin

Yesterday I attended the Austin Area Quilt Guild's show, Changing Gears.   It's probably symptomatic that it's been too long since I've attended a show, a guild meeting or anything quilty because I completely forgot to take my camera along.

I did take a few photos with my phone, including this one, named Self-Explantory, made by  Martha Tsihlas ... yes, it does say "Keep Austin Weird," a slogan that celebrates Austin's unique culture. I loved the idea of creating a "postage stamp" quilt.

You can click any of the photos for a larger image–I apologize in advance for the quality–or see a slide show of my photos from the day on Flickr, here: Austin Area Quilt Show.

It made me smile to walk around a corner and see this familiar quilt, Tree Everlasting, by Nancie Voegele, alive and in person:

Kathleen McCrady's Folk Art Lillies, which is based on an antique quilt, also me smile. I just loved the oversized Lily placed in the too small pieced basked block ... here's a detail photo, you can see my photo of then whole quilt here.

Overall, I was surprised at the number of traditional quilts made from kits, but, as always, there were still many many quilts, fabric combinations, quilting designs and other details to entertain and inspire.

Silver linings

A long time ago,  a friend told me that I was so good at finding the silver lining, he wondered if I purposely chased the clouds . . .

I know that my talent for finding the positive side of almost ANY situation generally serves me well.  I truly feel LUCKY that my brakes failed when they did yesterday–before I had hopped back on the highway–and that I was able to pull into a shopping center parking lot with a lot of space. It could have been so much uglier than sitting in the hot sun for an hour waiting for the tow truck and dealing with unpleasant brake shop company.

I have been walking around with my June lotto blocks for a while.  I didn't want them to get lost in the move . . . but I didn't think far enough a head to consider that I might not be able to easily put my hands on the box of kraft envelopes that I like to use to mail fabric/quilt blocks.  On Monday, I unpacked some funky stationary and envelopes and decided it would do.

I had driven past the Post Office, so I knew it was only a few blocks away.   Today, while my vehicle is still in the shop, I decided that I could walk to the post office and mail my very very late lotto blocks to Cory, Pat and Rho.  And so I did.

I got there in 10 minutes.

When I walk, I see so much more than I ever notice whizzing by in the car.  Today was no exception.  In the little strip, along with the post office are a bakery-cafe, a drug store, a haircutter, a liquor store, a UPS-DHL shipping place and more.  All good things to know about and to have nearby.

But the best find was what I glimpsed behind the post office . . . a great big HEB grocery store.  After I had mailed off my lotto blocks to the June winners, I had to make a detour to check it out.  One of the few things I have missed about the itty bitty loft in Dalals was the grocery store on the ground floor of the building, even though, over the 18 months I lived there, the selection became even more limited and the prices sky-rocketed.  But this is a ginormous grocery with a huge wine section, a beautiful big produce section and fresh sushi!  It really felt like a silvery lining.

I picked up some ripe tomatoes and an avocado to add to my salad for lunch today and was a happy camper.

Speaking of tomatoes, look what I found sitting on a sunny sidewalk during my trip.

Moving Update

All my belongings and I are now in Austin, I have internet and am now facing a sea of boxes and the challenge of finding a place for everything and putting everything in its place.  The cats are still at kitty summer camp at a friend's house and endearing themcelves to her.  She's teaching them new tricks:  Johnny now knows how to turn a door knob and open doors . . . and precautions had to been taken to keep him from doing so at will after he wandered out of his designated area at 2:00 AM and was first confronted by the cat of the house and then, after he was put back and escaped again at 2:45 AM and decided to wander downstairs, the dogs of the house.  Johnny is a very social cat ;-)

I'll be back soon with my moving story: the good, bad and truly ugly–with photos . . . if I can just remember where I put my camera.  Sigh . . .