Crash and Burn

Oh yes.  That far-off crash you heard last week wasn't a train wreck, an earthquake, or any such natural disaster.  It was a disaster of the technological kind.  Namely, our home computer.  You know what I'm talking about:  the suddenly slow page views, the anti-virus software suddenly running amok, and finally, the death knell known as the Blue Screen of Death.  Apparently the thing had more bugs than week-old road kill.  Our friend who tried to repair it was philosophical about it:  "Well, it IS 5 years old, after all".  I have socks that are significantly older that are still in good condition, for heaven's sake.

So time for a new computer.  But this had its share of complications as well.  After bringing it home, setting it up, it was running great, as long as you ignored the fact that it was crashing about every 20 minutes.  Bring it back to the store where it was discovered that it had some bad hardware which could be fixed, but this took an additional couple of days.

OK.  So we're back online now, hopefully for good.  (The newly repaired computer came home last night, and so far no problems).  I will say that it's super fast and a great improvement over our old one.

Of course, these things always (always!) happen in bunches (I hear you nodding your head in agreement, even if you're reading this in New Zealand) .  During some scheduled maintenance on my car earlier this week, it was discovered that I had a plastic part of my coolant system that had a leak and was generally looking like it was getting ready to break in a major way.  Like our computer, the car is getting up there in years and miles (nearly 9 years old, and 110,000 miles).  So I've been without a car and computer now for a few days.  (I will hopefully pick up the car later today).  Luckily, this was a week off from work for me so it was a relatively convenient time to get work like this done.

So the moral of the story is:  Things need to be made more like violins!  The very best and most expensive ones are 350-400 years old!

So, what is one to do without a car or a computer?
Quilt, of course!

  Here is the latest version of the "Livy Lou" quilt.  You'll recall that the last one was in a really bold black and red oriental color scheme.  I like the combination of colors in this one.

The fabric on the right side is on the back of the quilt.

Here are some placemats that I made from the leftovers of that oriental quilt.  The border fabric is also on the back.









So the time cut off from transportation and technology (and employment) was productive.  I also have, for upcoming posts, a new "intermission" quilt (it still needs a border) and some BIG NEWS:
I'm going to be a vendor at a new local craft market!!!!  I am giddy with excitement over this.