Turkey Tracks:  December 14, 2014

December Update

Well I have neglected the blog.

I’ve been busy with the Christmas party for the Coastal Quilters and with buying and starting to learn a new MAC computer (!).

I’ve been told for years and years that MACs are great for artists, and I have completely fallen in love with my Apple IPad and IPod Touch.  So, when my PC recently threw up the blue screen of death and started screaming at me–necessitating putting it into the car and rushing it down to Archangel Computers, which, fortunately for me, was open–I started rethinking getting a MAC.  I personally believe I am due a nice treat for this first Christmas I will be spending alone.  And I learned you can turn off a computer by holding down the start button for ten seconds.  Another piece of the learning curve…

And then there was the issue of trying to juggle email on four different devices that were not talking to each other.  Our local Time Warner carrier has roadrunner, and they have instituted changes that have made it pretty much totally unworkable, clunky, time-consuming, and a general pain in the you know what.  So…I’ve also gone to a gmail account.

The PC was, by the way, playing an audio book on CDs.  And it was sitting on my ironing board while I was sewing.  Who knows what happened…???  Anyway…I had to take the CDs back to the library as I do not have any way to play CDs except for an old CD player in the living room–and I don’t quilt in the living room.  I’m not sure I want to pay to download books, but I might.  I’m still rethinking this particular problem.  The CD players on the market now are either really cheap and have terrible reviews or are really expensive–and I’m not going to spend money on dead technology.

Anyway, I do have an update for you.

I finished the knitted cowl and am more than a little mildly disappointed with it.  Oh, it’s big and warm, but I thought the blues and greens would be dominant.

Here is a reminder of what the yarn looked like:

Knitted, the yarn is kind of muddy looking–though it’s growing on me with my brown coat.  The pattern is nice and there is a lot of texture:

Here I am in it:

I can now take a picture like this one on the MAC!

And I’m going to need to make a hat that goes with the cowl…

The sauerkraut is ready to give away or store:

Isn’t it gorgeous!

I finished “Clue Two” of Bonnie Hunter’s 2013 Thanksgiving Mystery Quilt:  Celtic Solstice.  They were chevrons and quite pesky to sew.  “Clue Three” came out on Friday, and I finished these units sometime on Thursday.  Here they are with “Clue One”–the units that will make stars when assembled.

Here’s another view–a close up:

The Facebook group members are all wondering how these chevrons will be used in the quilt.  Here are some patterns, though not all I’ve seen:

Bonnie shows a picture of an intricate tiled floor she took on her trip to Ireland this past summer.  Hmmmm.

The new clue came out Friday.  They are 2-inch half-square triangles in the yellow and orange.  Some are sewn into pinwheels; some are left alone.

I have a pile of “interesting information” to write about–and I promise to get going on that information in these quiet days.

We are expecting a BIG SNOW tonight, and it’s bitter, bitter cold here in Maine.