What is they say about Murphy's law...something about if it can go wrong it will? Well they should have added to it, and added 'and will and will and will...' Well you get the idea, I am sure!
I was enroute to get my oil changed in the car...something I could do but have determined that oil is just not the stain to have on my hands! It seemed strange to me that the heater was not putting out much heat, if any. I turned the dial to hot, and it became colder and colder in the car. So I just drove to the repair shop where I have work done on the car and asked about the problem. Last summer I had a new thermostat and heater coil inserted into the beasty, and I figured that perhaps they had not tightened something down. It was ok, the car engine was hotter than a desert in July, and yet no heat coming out...they took it for a spin around the block, came back and told me the water pump was gone. I was without the car for the entire day, they brought me home and called a couple of times to advise me of other problems, then about a half hour before they were due to close they call one last time to advise me that they also noticed that the oil pan gasket was bulging, and did not recommend driving it. I had to be able to get around if necessary...am not normally a very active person away from home, as I spend all my available time with my miriad of projects. When I picked the car up they again mentioned that they wouldn't trust the gasket to last long enough to get me back home. I don't race this car, just take a leisurely pace, and let all the other cars go around me, typical grey haired lady type of driving. I figured that it would be ok for the rest of the month. This all happened on last Friday. By Monday, I had discovered that just because the car was ailing, there was a mess of places that I wanted to go and was unable to because by Sunday afternoon I was afraid that if I even inserted the key in the ignition, the oil would be spilling all over the driveway!(Yep, they did a real number on my head, and I worried all weekend!) I called them on Monday and they said they were booked solid all day long, but could take me either about 4 p.m. Tuesday or I could bring it in Wednesday. So on Wednesday I very slowly drove it to the repair shop again...worrying the entire 10 miles for fear that the engine would seize up on me and I would need an entire engine not just a gasket! Another day lost while they worked on that blamed vehicle for another 6 hours! By this time I have sunk the major portion of $1000 into this car, and you know, even though it now had heat, I was beginning to hate it with a passion! However, by this past Sunday I was back to feeling that at least if I needed to go someplace I would not have to worry about it breaking enroute to wherever I was headed.
Then on Sunday afternoon while I was working on an embroidery project, my pet machine, the Brother, decided to have a hiccup, and it just quit on me. I moved it to another spot, hooked up my trusty Bernina Deco 600 to finish the project, and I noticed that it too was not feeling up to par and was refusing to clip the threads at the end of the colors, so I knew that I was going to have to take it to the machine doctor as well. I tinkered with it a little, then found out that the cutter was refusing to return to it's location after cutting the threads...I manipulated it back into location and from then on it has been purring like a kitten. Just wanted some hugs and stroking I reckon. Today I took the Brother to the shop, and this is a 30 mile round trip for me, and just like the baby that it is, it just wanted to take a ride in a warm car! When they checked it out, it was just fine. Did you ever have a child that was running a temp and feeling lousy and the minute that you got them to the doctor's office they were as healthy as could be? Well that is how I felt with the machine. While at the shop, I was looking at the new machines that are going to be on sale next month in time for the Puyallup Sewing and Quilting Expo. Both of my current machines are only a 4x4 inch format, and I was really wanting to get a larger format for some of my embroidery projects. With the amount of embroidery work I do, I needed something that was a workhorse, but still friendly to use. I was in luck, they had a used ULT come in just yesterday from being checked out and it was at a price I could afford, so, what the heck, I bought the darned thing! Now I was shocked to see the amount of reading I will have to do before I can even thread this machine. Never fear though, because I am persistent if nothing else and I will conquer the reading no matter how boring it is! I want to use this machine and badly! Anyway, it has been an expensive month what with car repairs I could have lived without, and the purchase of the machine...oh yes, I also purchased a new range as well...that has to be enough shopping for at least a week!
can I use to create a reasonable looking jelly and not have to use something that is non-existant in my stash! After searching through my stash, I discovered a fat quarter of a very pale blue with darker blue spatters on it that were very tiny and almost non-existant to the viewing of it. I determined I could use it, and since the moon jelly has a 4-leaf clover shape on the top that appeared to me was of a lavender color, I also dug out a scrap of a very pale lavender and went to work. Here is my end result, and I believe that it is a fairly good representation of the jelly fish. Quilting will add some dimension to it so it will actually turn this disaster into a new design element for the curtain. I am happy with the results!
