Monday Miscellaneous

The Weather:
For most days of the year, Pahrump skies are sunny, cloudless, and beautiful.  After all, we get only about 4 inches of rain per year.

However, for the last week or so, our skies have been gloomy as in the picture below.  What's up with this?  The moving truck is arriving in a week, and I could really use some of the lovely, sunny Nevada weather that we're used to.  There will be plenty of cloudy days back in Kansas.  I don't need them now.

Fabric:
I bought new fabric yesterday morning, and it is all Mrs. P.'s fault.  ;-)  She asked me via email if I was having quilting withdrawal.  Yes, I am!  I'm missing rummaging through my fabrics that are all packed, and I'm missing my sewing machine.  The one saving grace is my hand-pieced New York Beauty project.  But Mrs. P.'s question got me to thinking....  I counted the NYB blocks I have left to do, and at the rate that I'm finishing them, I'm going to be done with them BEFORE we get to Kansas.  Ack!  I can't be without any quilting to do at all.

Since I have the colored pieces of a new Drunkard's Path cut, that project is all ready to go if I cut the off-white as I go along.

Naturally, the off-white tone on tone that I bought for the project is packed with some glassware somewhere.  So I had to buy more.  This fabric isn't exactly the same as the original but it will do.

But feeling as deprived as I do, I couldn't stop there.  Oh no, I had to have 4 yards of the this bit of loveliness.  I do have a recipient in mind for the quilt I will eventually make from this.  Until today, I didn't even know I was making a quilt for this couple. 

So thanks Mrs. P.!

New York Beauties:
Speaking of New York Beauties, here are the latest:

I've got only 24 left to do--about twelve days work.

A Giveaway:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday.  How awesome is that?  She's got a couple of great prizes.  Be sure to check it out here.

Bloggers Quilt Festival:
The 2010 Autumn edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival begins October 29th.  It's open to all manner of blogger quilty-ness.  Check out the guidelines at Amy's Creative Side and join in the fun!

Monday Miscellaneous Suspended Briefly:
There will be no further posts to this blog after Saturday, October 30th, until we have arrived in Kansas and have phone/DSL service--sometime around November 8th.  It's a long time for me to be without access to my email buddies and bloggy friends.  So I'm trying to prepare myself for the lack.

On November 2nd, we'll head down this road to Las Vegas and points east.

Monday Miscellaneous

First off, I want to thank everyone who offered their sympathy and reassurance to last Monday's Miscellaneous Meltdown.  (That probably would have been a more appropriate title, don't you think?)

Anyway, since then, the seller's have agreed to make the repairs to the electrical system, and the irrigation guy put in the pressure reducers.  The irrigation guy is a nice person, but he wasn't happy about installing the pressure reducers.  He is one of those people that thinks something "should" be done a certain way--in this case maximum water delivery in the shortest amount of time--and it bothers him when it's not.  I was breaking one of his rules.  I told him that I understood what he was saying, but to humor me, because I could not afford a complete re-do of the entire irrigation system.

Now that we've got most things in order around here, we put the house on the market: 

Mt. Charleston is visible in the background.  It's an 11,000 foot peak that's beautifully decorated with snow every winter.

Listing the house is bittersweet.  Nevada has been good to us for the last 8 years, but our needs are different now.

****

We're getting ready for my dad's memorial next weekend.

(1944-2010)

It won't be anything formal.  (My dad hated funerals.)  Just family celebrating his life.  So we'll share stories and remberances, drink some beer, and hopefully get out the guitars and play a little.  My dad was the best musician in the family.  However, my cousin, Ben, has a natural talent for it, so now the honor of primary musician falls to him.  Me?  I inherited no musical ability whatsoever.  I can play a solid blues bass, but it's only because it's relatively simple and I've practiced A LOT.  Don't ask me to improvise though.

 (My dad, Bill, Ben, and Mike, my dad's brother)

We'll try to give my dad a send off appropriate to who he was.

From the Desert to the Prairie

A move is in the works in the Desert Quilter household.  In eight weeks, we'll be leaving Nevada for Kansas.  (Hopefully, the moving gods will smile on us and we can get everything done!)  Actually, it's a return to Kansas.  We've lived there before.  At this point in our lives, my mom and I feel it necessary to return to where we have family.  My grandparents are happy to be returning home.

We originally moved to Nevada to escape our allergies.  As you can see the landscape is quite barren compared to most places.  In regard to allergies, the move was a mixed a success.  With the dry climate there is almost no mold here.  That was wonderful!  But all those weeds you see still produce pollen and over time I've become allergic to it, along with the trees planted around houses for shade.  The experts said that moving wouldn't solve the allergy problem, but for several years, I was in pure heaven.  That said, I've reached the place where allergy shots are again in my future, so the original reason for the move to Nevada is moot.

I know many of you are looking at the sparse desert landscape and are finding it rather ugly.  I did too at first.  However, the colors of the desert are subtle and it takes time to see their beauty.  It doesn't hurt that the surrounding mountains change colors with the sunlight and are decorated with snow in winter.

So the clean out has already begun.  Guess what I found?  Eight, yep I count eight, books on quilting, sewing, crocheting, and knitting that will not be making the trip to Kansas with us.  They're all nice books.  Some we bought hoping to learn new techniques--but found ourselves sticking to our old familiar techniques instead--and others we've enjoyed and are ready to pass along.  What that means to all of you is eight days of book giveaways!

Each day for the next eight days starting tomorrow, I'll be featuring one of the books I'm giving away.  All you have to do to win is comment.  It's that simple.

On Wednesday, September 8th, I will announce the winners.  Please be sure to provide your email address so that I can get your contact information should you be one of the winners.  Good luck everyone!  And please wish us luck too.