Janice McC

Here’s a pic of a quilt I found on fb. It had a link to MM Crafts. This looks simple!

ibex94

I went to my local post office to send something priority. The only way they could give me a tracking number was if I paid more money to send it certified (which I did). Apparently, the main facility in town refuses to give the smaller facilites the tracking number decals.

I asked if the mail was running alright, because things routinely take longer to and from New Orleans since 2005 (Hurricane Katrina forced all the mail to be processed in Baton Rouge --I don't know if that is still the main processing hub but it isn't back in New Orleans yet.) I wanted to send a package overnight and the clerk was kind enough to tell me not to waste my money. Nothing was guaranteed out of New Orleans. I should have immediately gone to UPS but I didn't so the package went certified and got where it was going in about four business days.

At another post office in town I was told that they are having problems staffing the stations.

At my home, mail may or may not be delivered daily based on whether or not there are enough mail carriers that day.

I was heading out of town to visit my aunt in a small town to the north. I figured that if I could bypass New Orleans maybe the mail would get out faster. Nope. I was still too close to New Orleans because my first class mail took too long to get to where it was to go.

The good news is Janice just posted that my package to her is arriving! ...well ahead of her birthday -- yay!!

Now that I have all my candies in envelopes ready to go, I will be mailing as soon as the addresses are announced for the rest of the year. It won't matter if I am in New Orleans or elsewhere so long as I remember to grab a few envelopes and stash them in my suitcase!

This is my year for running around the country. Life and its circumstances, right? I hope I explained it understandably, Pamelor. I used to work for the post office (I loved it!) but I like teaching more so am teaching again. A different story, lol.

ibex94

I am relieved, Janice The candies this year are not what I was planning on sending. I did something new this year.... Time ran out on me and I was no where near my stash despite the best of my intentions so I picked up some lines of interesting precuts from my LQS (Fell off the moratorium wagon....) What's great is there are some real winners in the collections that I got but I want yardage of them, not the precuts. I don't like handling unwashed fabric... it doesn't look or feel right to me. But the precuts did facilitate my cutting process and only one of my packages was late so precuts got the job done. Smooth sailing for the rest of the year with regards to candy deliveries. :-) Now for sewing time....

pamelor

Ibex, thank you for the explanation. What frustration and so different from how I remember things working in "the good old days." Although, who knows, my memories of how smoothly the world seemed to work in my childhood maybe are just that, skewed childish misconceptions of how things should work. I spent 3 years in basically a third world country in the 90's and used to laugh at how ridiculous the post office and other operations were there. Now, they are us.

WMUTeach

Thanks for photo JMcC, A nice variation of some other patterns I have seen to use up those squares we have stashed away. I finished my Checkerboard Chain. (Photo to come tomorrow.) I was planning on making it bigger, like a lot bigger, but I need to get a baby quilt finished and gifted before the baby arrives, so the CC will be left smaller and be used for the new baby.

Just two more baby quilts to go. One is special for a nephew who asked for a quilt. His mom was a master quilter and when she passed away, I picked up the role of family quilter. This year I have three family quilts on my "To Do List". Baby is due in May but I want to make it special and unique just as his Grandma would have.

The other baby quilt is for a grandma who watches her grands frequently. She needs to have a special snuggle quilt for her
newest grand.

Thanks for the sharing your saga of getting mail out of New Orleans. I had no idea you area is still in serious recovery of a service as basic as mail.

Happy Saturday night and Sunday to you all.

Rebaquilts

Hi all, I broke down and purchased a carpenter's wheel-ish pattern for candies, I just decided it was easier to use someone else's math than my own. it is on my list of to-do items now that I have the pattern. I've been catching up on posts because of being out of town for a week and a week of craziness, people getting tax refunds back and wanting to get old business done. Its my busiest season for sure. Good to hear about the post office, it isn't just me. And the Supreme's just ruled in favor of postal workers being able to take a day off for their weekly religious services, no more 7 day work weeks. So that will probably result in staffing shortages on the weekends, but I think it is worth it so people can attend church IMHO. I'll be on the lookout for a candy pattern for the 25th ;-) happy President's Day!

WMUTeach

Reba, you can always snap a photo of your new "carpenter's wheel-ish" pattern and showing us what is on your to do list. We will then hold you accountable....Tee-Hee-Hee! Nah, we will just watch patiently for progress as you work along. I like your idea of letting the professionals do the calculations. Sometimes I get tired of all the math and just want to sew. Three cheers for pattern designers .

I had a delightful time wandering around one of my favorite fabric stores in Shipshewana, Indiana today. I needed a backing fabric for a quilt I made for a three-year-old boy. Top is a blue and white Pladish, but I wanted something child like for the back and I found popsicles! Not baby but not scary movie characters. Fun kid food! Bright and just a bit silly.

So many beautiful fabrics were sitting on the shelves in the shop trying to lure us in, but the prices have gone up. I get a 30% discount once a month at this shop, but I was seeing fabrics close to $15 a yard. Gorgeous but close to being beyond my budget. Even the discount area is now $8 rather than $6. I did notice that not as many gals were leaving with arm loads of new cuts of fabric this time. Makes it difficult for the shops to keep in business. Guess I will just have to keep using my life time supply of 2.5's. Tee-Hee-Hee!

Watch to PM tomorrow...................February 20th.

SusieQOH

Hi everyone, things are starting to settle down here and I'm about to break out all my candies and find a pattern to start. Since I had my knee replaced and then Paul got so sick I haven't sewn and am "itching to stitch". I'm going to search this thread for some ideas.
I want to thank you all so much for the wonderful goodies you sent!!!

Happylab- I haven't received yours yet but no worries. It will get here.

sewbizgirl

Saw this one on FB today. We have all probably seen it before, but it's worthy of a reminder.

WMUTeach

SusieQOH, I am so glad that life is settling down a bit. We all have times and seasons but it sure does mess with our sewing plans when those seasons happen. Enjoy your new candy.

I just posted the March Birthdays PM. If you did not get a message, let me know and I will send to you again.

I found a back for the Checkerboard Chain. Whoo Hoo!! The one I had in mind from my stash was just a smidge too small. I will use it for another baby quilt this year I am sure. So I used a gift certificate from a local shop to get a good back. They had a 50% off sale so, I got what I needed and left with $$ in my pocket for another time.