Saturday, August 30, 2008

Rental Car



This is a picture of the rental car we got from enterprise. Our car was deemed a total loss. It was in an accident last week. The other party's insurance is paying for the rental, at least part of it. I'm not too happy with the arrangement, but it's better than nothing. We have it for a week.

The insurance is paying for the rental fee. We have to pay for the insurance for the rental. How messed up is that. Sorry, but I have to vent. The fees for the insurance come out to more than the cost of the rental itself. What a rip off! I'm ready to ask my parents if we can borrow their car. I think the other party's insurance should cover everything, because he hit us! Now we have to get a new car. Grrrr...

My DH is in Oregon. He took my DD to college. I've been trying to reach him on his cell, but he hasn't returned by calls. This is most frustrating. I guess we need to go car shopping this weekend. Gotta get rid of this rental ASAP. I hope I can convince DH to go car shopping on Mon. He returns from his trip tomorrow.

I hope your weekend is going well. Thanks for listening.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Greenhouse Frog



I don't know how well you can see the little frog in the jar, but that is what hopped into our house. We captured it last night. It is a greenhouse frog. I called the Department of Agriculture's Pest Hotline and that is what they told me it was. It is not poisonous, but it is an alien species and a pest. It makes a chirpping noise like a bird. Our neighbors have birds who make lots of noise, so I was unaware that we had these in our neighborhood. The man who took my call told me not to be nice because it looks so cute. He said I would regret it later when it multiplied and kept me up at night.

I spoke to some people I work with to find out who to call and some of them told me that they have lots of these around their neighborhood.

Oh, the man who took my call told me to kill it. He said to put the jar in the freezer, then throw the jar away.

One hopped into the house about five days ago, but I chased it out by spraying a vinegar and water solution at it. It left the way it came in, I think. I didn't actually see it come in, but it squeezed out through a space under our screen door.
I told my neighbor about it and he told me that I would have to catch it. Well, we caught this one...I wonder how many more we have around our house. I hope not too many and I hope they don't venture in any more. If they do, at least I know what to do with them.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Japanese Buzzsaw Quilt

During the summer, I took a class at Bernina to learn how to make a Buzzsaw Quilt. Since it is made with oriental or asian print fabrics it is called a Japanese Buzzsaw Quilt. This is a photo of my instructors finished quilt.

I chose a green background fabric and use light colored print
ed fabrics. My instructions were to cut 9 inch squares and 2 x 8 inch strips.

We were to sew a printed square and a background square, then cut them in half to make two new squares which were half print and half background fabric.
Next, we cut the new squares into 2 inch strips, we laid them out so that we could see the print. This enabled us to mix the prints or if we wanted to leave them the same.

We assembled our strips to create a new square. We then used four of the squares to make a block.









This is a picture of a finished Buzzsaw quilt I saw at a quilt show. I didn't finish my quilt yet. I will post pictures of it in progress.




Sunday, August 24, 2008

A Graduation Gift

My daughter made this pillowcase as a graduation gift for a friend. This was the first time she sewed a pillowcase. She did a really good job.Of course, I guided her by washing the fabric, showing her how to zigzag the edges before washing so that it wouldn't fray too much, I also cut the fabric and taught her how to finish the seams. I don't know if her friend liked it, but it came out really nice.