Weather Report

Since the bucketing rainfall in May & early June, we have been under a high pressure system.
Our weather now has been a lesson in sultry conjugation.

It has been hot & humid.

It is hot & humid.

It will be hot & humid.

The forecast has been the same for weeks: highs in the upper 90s, lows in the upper 70s, light southwest winds; the only variations being a slight increase in both the high & low temps, some days partly cloudy rather than sunny, maybe a slight chance for rain, maybe an air quality alert or heat advisory. I go from home to car, car to work, work to grocery store, grocery store to home, only sweltering in the minutes it takes the AC to cool down.

And to top things off, I am on the downhill side of my SECOND cold in 6 weeks. (I was sick. It am sick. I hope I won't be sick much longer.)

Rain, rain, go away

Thank you for your very kind emails about Shug's & my safety.
Yes, we are safe & dry -- unlike others in our area -- property lost &, much worse, lives lost.

Regarding the weather, Enough!!!

Shug & I grew up in Tornado Alley, saw our share of brutal weather: blistering heat, softball-sized hail, towering clouds with that sickly greenish light, blizzards, ice storms, sub-zero temperatures, etc, etc, etc. But I had never seen rain like it rains down here on the Gulf Coast. It doesn't seem physically possible to rain as hard as it does here. They say that at one point on the night of the News-making Rains, it was coming down at a rate of 1 inch in 5 minutes (2.5 cm/5 minutes). They say that this May was the wettest month for Texas since they've been keeping records -- for our county alone, official measurements from 10 to 20 inches. They say that approximately 35 trillion gallons fell on the state this month.
And -- now is the beginning of the 2015 hurricane season. {sigh} Please wish us good luck.

Thank you again for your kind questions & comments. I see I've not just made virtual friends with my little blog, but really real friends.
Thanks & hugs to you!

I wish it was hotter & more humid --

Said no one!

EVER!!!!

On Flickr, Instagram, blogs, I see much of the Northern Hemisphere getting out their woolens, hanging quilts to air, making pots of hearty, warming soups.

Not us.
I has been a long, hot, humid but rain-less summer that will probably go on & on & on.

Brrrrrr

This week was Houston winter at its worse. I know much of the world will think we're a bunch of wimpy whiners & they are probably right, but when the temps are in the low 30s & the humidity is over 90% & it's drizzle-y & windy, that adds up to bone-chilling cold! Those days were followed by crisper & colder days. (By the week's end, we were up to the low 60s -- I did my walk in shorts. But I was a chilly!)

I was wishing I had a quilt ready to bind, but nothing is at that stage. Instead, I've been getting better acquainted with Betty with some piecing -- some spotty Amy Butler HSTs & candy scrappy trip along. (I LOVE this machine! I'm calling her Betty the Cat -- she purrs!)









And cutting up big piles of my stash into squares & strips & triangles for donation quilts. Once I'm through with the Cutting Table it will become the Quilting Table & I'll pull out Laura's Lightning -- I guess I am about 1/4 done with it.



And I do have a bit of hand sewing to do -- sleeve & label & travel bag for Lucky.
Because?
It's going to QuiltCon!!!

A breath of fresh air

A week or so ago, the temperatures were blistering at over 100 F (about 38 C) with really high humidity -- not as hot as some places, but we had an added bonus. A high pressure system was sitting over us making it not just hot & miserable but, dangerous as well! Smog & ozone levels were said to be !Unsafe for Anyone!

Thankfully, several days later clouds & rain moved in, dropping the temps down into the 90s -- even the 80s! -- much more do-able!

Beside the break in the weather, I had a special treat waiting for me in the mailbox! And while it made me feel warm inside, it didn't make me feel hotter. ;-)

My e-buddy, O'Quilts had recently posted about some things she had made for a baby shower. I had admired them & commented on how bad I was at baby gifts. Well, she very kindly offered to share with me the pattern she used for the baby bibs & asked if I would also like her pattern for adult bibs as well. O'Quilts & I are both dealing with Mothers in nursing care -- her's has Parkinson's, mine has Alzheimer's -- so we understand each other & understand the need for things like a bib for your Mom. She promptly got the patterns posted along with a cheery quilted coaster (in use in my studio), a cute little needle book (will go in my travel sewing kit) & a fun bit of fabric featuring a fried egg breakfast. The only thing missing is the salsa & tortillas!



Thanks O'Quilts! You are awesome!!!

The Humility Block

If you have read much about antique and vintage quilts, you have probably come across reference to the "humility block". According to the story, quilters would include in their quilt an intentional mistake -- because "only God is perfect".  I, like probably you, always thought this was a bit arrogant -- I am quite able to make mistakes without making them on purpose, thank you very much.

After completing my Sunday School Stars polyester double knit top, I did an internet search of the "humility block". I found this good article and learned that there is really no such thing. Quilt historians have found the myth to be a mid-20th century invention, perhaps by quilt dealers making the mistake in the quilt into a charming quirk. The humility block was often attributed to the Amish, who, when asked about it, thought the same as I did: it isn't humble to think that the only way you will make a mistake is to do so intentionally. Well, in a waaaay, mine is a humility block. I saw the mistake in time to fix it, I just chose not to. I had already done some ripping & resewing on this goofy quilt top and it wasn't easy picking stitches out of the double knit -- so I left it!



And in our meteorological news: IT RAINED!!!! It rained quite a bit today; so far we've had 3.5 inches (about 9 cm) and it is still RAINING!!!!! There is still way to go to make up our nearly 20 inch (51 cm) deficit, but this really helps.