More Quilting, This and That

I'm a happy MacBook user again! The Apple store repaired/replaced our MacBook batteries in six days. We picked it up Sunday, and it's working beautifully. I will never stop appreciating what I can do on a computer, as I've been putting the last touches on a "Big Stitch Quilting and More" presentation that I'll present next Monday, February 10 to members of my Central Florida MQG chapter. I'm also working on a "Domestic Machine Quilting With Rulers" presentation that I'll give on March 4 to members of the Orlando MQG. And EQ8 has been invaluable for designing a modern baby quilt for the beginner quiltmaking classes I'll start teaching in April. Hooray for technology!

This is still going on. Quilting my 2019 temperature quilt. Endlessly it seems. 

By my latest count, I've quilted 211 of the 378 Drunkard's Path blocks. That means I'm 56 percent done. My aim is to quilt 10 blocks a day, which takes about three hours, because I'm changing thread colors often, and tying off thread tails as I go. So that means at least 16 more days of quilting - unless I really go for it! 

For a brief respite from quilting, last weekend I made this Zippy Crossbody bag (pattern by Sallie Tomato) using orange cork and Christa Watson's "Fandangle" fabric. As you can see, the front side has two exterior pockets with another at the top, and one on the back! (Pockets are why I like the pattern.) I used skinny strips of cork as zipper tab ties.

Though I followed the pattern, I made two additions to it, the first being a clear vinyl pocket on the exterior back, to hold my Villager ID card.

My second modification was to add one more interior zipper pocket.  

That's a total of five zippers in this 8" X 8" bag! Love it!

A couple weeks ago we went to Blue Spring State Park, near Orange City, Florida, specifically to see the manatees. When the weather turns colder, these amazing creatures swim away from the colder ocean water to inland rivers and springs. The day we visited, the park's manatee count was 293. 

They're such graceful creatures. I love the "shushing" blowing sound they make when their nostrils break the water for air. They come up every two to five minutes, but can remain submerged for as long as 20 minutes.

Every dark shadow in the water was a manatee. 

I'm so glad we had a chance to visit and afterward, eat a good Cajun lunch at Fire on the Bayou.

If you're interested in life in The Villages, all I can say is "It's still growing!" I don't have numbers to hand, but at least 2000 more houses are in the works. Where we were once considered "living on the south end," we're now in the middle. As The Villages sprawls farther south (even along Interstate 75!), the need increases for more rec centers, shopping, and golf cart accessible roads.

This is the only place you will ever find golf cart bridges crossing major highways. The first of three new golf cart bridges was set in place in August 2019, but hasn't yet been used. It crosses state highway 44, but there are no golf cart roads to/from the bridge! Yet.

This is my picture of the second of two golf cart bridges that will cross four lanes of highway 44. Video here. Each bridge is constructed alongside its location. Then, on a designated night, the highway is closed so the bridge can be lifted into position. It's fascinating, I think. 

A third golf cart bridge will cross the Florida Turnpike! This is an artist's rendering of it. 

Being able to go everywhere in a golf cart is one of the reasons we love living here. Our golf cart (the second one we've owned) will be five years old in March and it has nearly 26,000 miles on it.

Each Saturday Dan and I take our golf cart to the Farmer's Market to buy a week's supply of vegetables for daily juicing. Every juicing includes spinach, celery, carrots, cucumbers, lemon, turmeric root, ginger root, and kale - along with mother's apple vinegar, flaxseed oil, and apple (for me). Lately, the kale has been absolutely gorgeous! This is three huge bunches that more than filled one side of the sink. Can't you just see "healthy"?

Since visiting the Apple store on Sunday, my audiobook-listening has gotten easier. While at the store I inquired about AirPods - wireless earbuds, and happily I came home with them.

They're so easy to use! Just charge the little case, and then slip the pods inside the case (they're magnetic, so they pop right in) to charge them.

The audio is very clear, and they're great for phone conversations. Now I'm lovin' that I can quilt at my machine, with the quilt piled all over, and not worry anymore about the cord (between the earbuds and iPhone) getting tangled in the quilt. In fact, the AirPods work 40 feet away from the iPhone! 

When I'm listening to a book, and need to hear something (someone) else, all I have to do is slip a pod from my ear, and the book (or music, or radio) stops. When I put the pod back in my ear, the sound resumes right where I left off before removing it! How great is that?!

All of my audiobook-listening has been through my public library apps: Hoopla, and Axis 360. As of February 1, books are now also available through RBDigital. Happily, that gives us Outlander (by Diana Gabaldon) lovers access to the Outlander series audiobooks. Yay! Even though I've already listened three times, a fourth listen would be just fine. Don't you agree? I would also like to listen to Gone With the Wind which I read 50 years ago (not kidding), but I can't find that title on any of these three apps.

So, from RBDigital I borrowed The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K Chesterton. Because I enjoy the Father Brown public television series, I thought I'd get a different perspective from the books. Apparently Mr. Chesterton is the second most-famous British detective author, right behind Arthur Conan Doyle who wrote Sherlock Holmes books. Mr. Chesterton's Father Brown character first appeared in a series of short stories in 1910. The Innocence of Father Brown is a compilation of those first dozen stories.

After listening, I especially admire the acting skills of Mark Williams who plays Father Brown on TV. I kept picturing him in each story. Still, the short stories didn't hold the same appeal. Perhaps it's because Mr. Chesterton's Father Brown smokes a cigar; or he travels to different places (doesn't seem to have a parish of his own); or that his friend is a Frenchman, Flambeau, a former "bad guy" who changes his ways and becomes a detective (there's no always-irritable Inspector Mallory); or that Father Brown doesn't pedal anywhere - though he does carry a ratty umbrella. The writing style was archaic and involved frequent conversations discussing ethical and moral philosophies, apropos to the time, but not my cup of (English) tea.

Linda's score: 3.2/5.0

Linda