February

 

I'm front and center, because it's my birthday month! I was almost a Valentine! And it will be Baby Girl's birthday month, her mama is probably being induced the night of the 11th.

 This was on Deals and Steals, so I sent it to my Seattle grandkitties. Manda said Squeaky has taken up residence in it.

 April's pic was just released, these are so adorable. My pattern should come next week.

And February is again/still/yet filled with rage. I feel like I'm watching a slow moving train as President Musk gets ready to steal from all of us, and the First Felon fiddles. And yet so much of the country thinks it's just great. Sigh. 

And for even more fun, there were fraud charges on my credit card statement, which led to a half hour on the phone, cancelling the card, a refund, and a new card being sent. Sigh.

February!

 January lasted soooo long! Especially since President Musk and the First Felon took over and are trying to dismantle the place. Every day it's some new felon.

I gave up on Canalboat, it just wasn't doing it for me.

 I started this one over the weekend. 

I bought a new Kindle, which should come tomorrow. I traded in my Kindle Oasis, which was 4 years old, had terrible battery life, and took too long to change pages.

This morning I had a foot doctor appointment, and we dropped off books at the library. Of course we got re-routed by construction. 

At least the snow is all gone. Finally. 

Finally!

 January has been 3 years long, at least. I have the TV on in the background, talking about the awful crash in DC. So terribly sad, and so preventable. I'm just waiting for the First Felon to blame it on Joe Biden. 

I have watched the news in very small doses. I'm so sick of the fecking republicans, such a spineless group. The decisions that President Musk and FOCUS are making are so awful, and the republicans smile and pretend they don't know what's going on.  And so many people are defending the cruel decisions- no wonder I'm still full of rage.

Anyway.

 Canalboat is the name of the baby afghan that I've started. I'm having some trouble getting into it.

 Our county library is running a craft supply swap! Such a great idea! I have a bunch of kits and materials that I will donate, and I don't want anything in return. Since I don't think I'll live to be 300, I guess I have no chance of using up everything I have. And I had brought a lot of things home from Mom's house.

Warmer today

 It's going up to 42 today! Melt the rest of this ice! 

We just got back from errands. Haircuts for both of us, Aldi, and paid the property tax for this quarter. 

 Ralph hung this for me this morning. For years it hung in the family room, til we had it painted. The old hanger was in poor shape, so we got a curtain rod yesterday and he hung it up. It's one of the favorite things I've made. If I remember right, it was done with thangles. 

I also went thru the box of things for the midarm and put them in a drawered cart. 

I was a slug all weekend, no crafting. I think I slept half of Saturday, and read the other half.

99% done

Brrr, another cold one- 5 degrees this morning! But it's going up to 32, a full ten degrees less cold than yesterday. 

  The denim and flannel quilt is 99% done. I just have to run a row of stitching all around the edges so the fraying will be controlled. Snipping the denim will be done by Eddie, Steph and Jules- I haven't told them yet. It's shown on my queen bed, and Eddie has a full bed, due to space limitations in his room. The plaids are leftovers from my late dad's flannel shirts. I'm happy how it came out. I did units of rows of 3, sewed them together, then sewed the two units of 6 rows together. It was like wrestling an alligator! So heavy and unwieldy. My Janome 6500 handled the thickness like a charm, with the aid of a jeans needle. 

And I still have stacks of denim squares, and denim/flannel squares! I'm not ready to tackle another one. Maybe when Garrett, who's 9, is a teenager. 

 Canalboat is the baby afghan I did the first row on last night. I actually had all the colors needed! 

Ralph is at breakfast with the Veterans. When he gets home we plan to make a Sam's Club run.

Are we really only on day 4 of President Musk and the First Felon? My despair has been overshadowed by my rage at this point. I can only watch the news in about ten minute spurts. I'm trying to not let them keep me up at night, but it's hard. 

Brrr!

 The high today will be 22! Yikes!

 We got some snow, 3-4 inches. Because it sleeted first, it's a frozen mess. The boro plowed last night around 1 a.m., so the sun hopefully can do some melting. The sky is a beautiful blue at the moment.

 Another 3 rows done, and sewed to the first 3 rows. It's like wrestling an alligator to get the heavy rows sewn together.

 Finished! I'm happy with the non-traditional coloring of this baby afghan.

 I ordered this yesterday, after thinking about it for a day. It just speaks to me.

 And I signed up for these cuties. January and February are ordered, and I'm on the list for the rest of the months. 

Sigh. And we get a FOTUS today. What a not funny joke. I'm not watching a second of the proceedings today, and I'm off Facebook til tonight. What a sad state of affairs. 

More winter coming!

 Forecast today, warmish, followed by increasing cold, rain, then maybe sleet and maybe snow, then real, real cold. The Felon Elect moved his swearing in to inside- what a snowflake! I'm applauding Michelle Obama, for skipping the whole dreadful affair. She has precedent, after all, Melania and DonOLD skipped Joe's big day.

 The fireplace is working! The whole thing was dusty and dirty, so Eddie the Fireplace Guy cleaned it all and it works great. I don't use it a lot, because it makes the rest of the house cold. But it looks so nice!

 I started putting the denim and flannel quilt blocks together! It gets a wide seam so the seams can be clipped and fray. I have the spring loaded scissors to clip, but I'm going to farm that out to Eddie and Julie. Their fingers are much younger than mine.

Word from my brother Mike is that Baby Oehrl will be induced on February 10. I've got the yarn all pulled to make her a temperature snake for her first year. I'll embroider the eyes rather than use safety eyes.

I have 8 more rows on the current baby afghan for my stockpile. Goal is to do 4 today and finish tomorrow.

And Ralph is done getting the HQ16 leveled and ready to rock! 

More snow!

 We got another dusting last night. And there is snow and arctic cold in the forecast for Sunday night and Monday. Hopefully it will be so cold Monday for the swearing in of the Felon Elect that his fools will stay home and his crowd size will be few. 

Heather, Eddie and Steph were shopping at the Outlets yesterday, so they came over to help move things around! Nothing like young man muscle!

 In the first picture, the china closet is barely visible in it's new location. Heather put the dishes back in it for me. The HQ 16 still has to be leveled, but she's in the dining room now! It was a major production to get the table taken apart, brought up from the basement, and put back together. Eddie made the most trips up and down, which spared Ralph. The timing was perfect, since Eddie starts college again next Tuesday. 

And best of all, Heather went home with two boxes of things from the china closet! A tureen, a bread dish, and some Christmasy ceramics that Ralph's Nana Rose had made. As a told Steph, I feel successful when I fill Heather's car with "stuff." Luckily, she and Ed both like getting items from previous generations.

Lots of sewing

 Since I was up so early yesterday, I spent about 3 hours in the sewing room!

 Look at those stacks! I only have 3 dozen more flannel squares, and lots of denim ones. The blue plaid, and there is a gray plaid, were from my late dad's flannel shirts. I've incorporated his shirts into the previous quilts I made for Michael, Joseph and David. Sadly, Joseph died in 2019 and David in 2021, so there quilts have gone to their sons, Joey and Benjamin. 

Today's goal- to do the last 3 1/2 dozen flannel squares.

Up early

 I looked at the Alexa clock beside the bed, and it said 8:20, so I got up. Then I looked at my watch, and it said 7:20. I asked Alexa the time, and she said she had no internet. Unplugged, plugged back in, and she showed the correct time. By then I was wide awake, so I got up. I usually get up between 8 and 8:30. 

It's cold! 22 degrees now, high around 32. I did my morning check of Find My Friends, to stalk my kids. Heather is working today. 

 The picture of my squares wouldn't show yesterday because it was a video. Sometime the phone just decides to take videos.

 Baby afghan in progress. The orange is actually a pretty peach, and the stripes are cream/light yellow and honeydew. This is my couch project, that I only work on when the TV is on. 

Today's goal is to continue making denim and flannel squares. I only did two dozen yesterday. I had to stop to wind bobbins- I wind 20 at a time. And I took out the bobbin casing and used the brush to get lint out, and gave her a drop of oil. I'm using a regular needle to make the squares. When I start to sew them together I'll switch to a jeans needle. 

I've got a mental list of projects for this year, I need to get it written down so I can cross them off as I go along!

Out and about

 So the heater got fixed Friday. The circulating fan wasn't doing a good enough job, so it got replace with a stronger one. The Fireplace Guy (that's the name of his business) is coming Wednesday afternoon.

Today we went and did errands. Took the DVR back to Comcast and got a replacement. Our appointment was at 11, we got there at 10:40 and were out by 10:50 with a new one.

We started by going to the MAC machine (ATM for anyone not from the Delaware Valley) for fives. Nope, machine was only stocked with 20's and 50s. I guess they hadn't restocked after the weekend. 

Then to the library, returned a book and picked one up. Down the Pike to Comcast, the to Aldi for a few things. Basically we made a big circle.

Home again, and to the sewing room.

 This is the stack of 8 1/2 dozen squares of denim and flannel, from yesterday.

 I cut the other piece of flannel into 6 inch squares, got another 9 dozen. I've uploaded today's pic to google, but it's in no hurry to share to the computer.

Tomorrow I'll start sewing the new batch of flannel to denim. I have to figure out how big to make this thing. I think the others I did were oversize twins. These quilts wear like iron, being denim and flannel. This one is for grandson Eddie. I'll tell him this is the quilt that you take to the beach, that can go in your truck, or on your bed, whatever you choose. 

And we're in for the day! Warmer today, in the mid 40's! The snow is melting away.

 

What an end to the week!

 And I'm not even referring to the Felon Elect! That added to my rage at the idiocy of half the voters.

Thursday night around 11, I was sitting in my nesting area of the couch. I was basically on top of the heater, which is in the basement. It was so cold out, and the heater started sounding funny, like it was surging. I woke Ralph up so he could listen. He thought it sounded like the circulator, which had just been replace 5 weeks ago. It was noticably getting colder. He left a message for the HVAC company, and put on the electric fireplace that's part of his TV stand. I went to bed with the electric blanket.

HVAC company called before 8 a.m., said they had a few emergency calls ahead of us, and would be out. We decided to start up the gas fireplace in the living room. Nothing. He replaced the batteries in the remote and the unit. Nothing. I texted the fireplace guy who had installed the gas unit. He's my niece's brother in law. He texted right back, gave a few suggestions which did nothing, and said he can come out Wednesday, which is fine. 

I checked the DVR, as I tend to record the series I watch, and binge them. The thing has been randomly not recording episodes of most shows. So the guts of the DVR have to go back to Comcast to be replaced. I had cancelled Hulu. Luckily they had just sent me an email with a special offer, $2.99 per month for 6 months. All the shows with missing episodes are on Hulu. So we have to make an appointment with Comcast when Ralph feels better. He's still under the weather, and we hope his cold doesn't go into bronchitis.

 So I did some sewing on the denim and flannel quilt. I was chain piecing, and did half the X on 8 1/2 dozen squares. I stopped because I ran out of cut flannel. Tomorrow I'll probably finish the X's, then cut more flannel. I have about another 3 yards of the blue flannel. I have to decide how big I want to make it. 

We were tired of grazing on leftovers, so we got a pizza and a cheesesteak yesterday, which will also feed us today. 

Another cold one!

 It's 23 and windy, and feels like 11! Yikes! Ralph has a bad cold and sounds awful. He slept in the recliner, because when he lies down he can't sleep. I made him scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon for breakfast, and he's napping now.

 Yesterday I cut several yards of flannel into 6 inch squares for the denim and flannel rag quilt that will -probably- be my next project.

 Last night I pulled yarn for a temperature snake for Baby Girl Oehrl. It will start with the day she's born and show her first year. This morning I reworked my color chart, as I want to do it in more pastels. The other six I've made were more brights. And with this one I'll embroider the eyes rather than use safety eyes. When I did the other 6, the kids were all old enough to not try to eat the eyes. 

I can only have the news on for a few minutes at a time. Take over Greenland and the Panama Canal and annex Canada? He's fecking nuts, and yet the Republicans in the Senate and House are not saying a word. They talked about Biden losing it, the Felon Elect has lost it and has not even been sworn in yet! I still can't believe that half the voters fell for it again.

Brrrr

 It's 25 out, but feels like 10! Yikes! I'm staying in!

 Yesterday I finished taking apart a couple of pairs of jeans and cutting them into 6 inch squares. I have a whole container of squares. The last jeans quilt I made was for Jacob, from my dad's jeans and flannel shirts, so that was 2007 or so. I've made them for Michael, Joseph, Jacob, David, and a friend of Steph's. I took me a while to remember that I'd backed them with flannel, which I have some big pieces of. I want to make one for Eddie. I have to consult with Julianna to see if she'd like one. Michael tells me that his lives on his couch, and he wraps up in it every morning, which makes me feel warm and fuzzy. 

Steph sent our group a pic of her personal trainer. How cute is she!

 

Manda and Ben used the money we sent for the kids for Christmas to buy a 3D printer, and the kids are loving it. Amary printed out this giant slug! Those kids are amazing. I'm so sad that they live 3000 miles away.

Overhyped snow

 All we heard all weekend was snow coming. We could get 3-9 inches, more the further south in the state. Schools closed based on the forecasts. It started snowing before dawn on Monday, and snowed and snowed. And we ended up with- drum roll- 3 inches. Hardly the blizzard of the century.  

We have a little hill in front of our house. The mail truck got stuck- luckily Ralph was out doing the walk and put sand under her tires. FedEx almost got stuck. The boro truck plowing had a hard time. 

The shower was different. No gifts were opened, which disappointed the older ladies. Come to find out, that's the thing now. Either people send gifts right to the baby's house, or there are display showers where you bring the gifts unwrapped, but at least you get to see what the baby gets. Times change, but I find this change sad. 

Samantha's sister Nikki went all out with decorating. We all got a little vase with flowers to bring home. The food was amazing, all kinds of brunch casseroles, bagel sandwiches, fruit, and pastries. My poor sister in law was under the weather and couldn't come. We all felt so badly for her.

 

I did snow sewing. When I made the rice bags for Ed and Ralph, I made the shells for two more, but ran out of rice. I got rice last week, and finished the other two, one for Frank and one for Mike. 

 This was intended for the baby. I wasn't paying attention and used worsted instead of baby yarn, so the hat fits an adult. By the time it dawned on my, I'd gone too far to want to rip it out. 

I got all my cookbooks reshelved in the sewing room, so they are up off the floor. And the relocated bookcase fits right in. 

Shower Day!

 Baby shower, that is. This morning at 11 is the baby shower for my niece Samantha. My brother and sister in law's second grandchild is due March 2.

 I made my future great niece a red hat! My Dad always wore a red beanie hat, it was his thing. After he died, my brothers, Ralph, and half the guys in Pine Hill got one of his hats. So of course I had to make Little Baby Oehrl a red hat! I'm also gifting her with a baby afghan, a half dozen oversize receiving blankets, a half dozen burp diapers, a couple of books, a cute "No boys allowed" sign for her room, and a sign with a truck on it, because we're equal opportunity here! 

 

Heather collected pix from our Facebook accounts and made calendars for me, Manda, Steph, and herself, so we can all see the same pix every month. Such a great gift! 

We got less than a dusting of snow last night. We're predicted to get plowable snow Sunday night into Monday. LOL, luckily I have bread, milk and eggs! 

First post of 2025

 Yikes! It's 2025 already! I'm starting the year still in a state of rage and despair. 

I hope to finish this baby hat today! The brim rolls up, and I've reached about 3/4 of the width. I checked the chart, and asked my favorite mother-baby nurse. Newborn heads have an average circumference of 31-33 centimeters- who knew? 

The latest baby afghan in progress. I like the colors, very springy.

In 2024, I made 22 full sized table runners, and 2 smaller ones. I made 30 burp diapers (cloth diaper backed with flannel), and finished one receiving blanket to join the dozens I already had made. 

I finished two rice bags, one for Ed and one for Ralph.

I made the full sized counted cross stitch project.

 I really have to see about getting some of the cross stitch framed and up on the wall. 

And of course I read 159 books, a combination of library books and kindle books. 

Heather was here on Tuesday, and she helped Ralph move the bookcase to the sewing room, and the dining room table to the sunroom. She'll come back next week and help him move the china closet, and bring up the HQ 16. My big goal for 2025 is to get some of the quilt tops quilted and bound. 

And I sure hope we survive another term of the FOTUS- Felon of the United States.