Another top made.....

This little gem was today's playtime project ! Had sewn the blocks in the truck a long time ago and just finally got around to putting them together. This is the Weed Wacker pattern by Bonnie Hunter, a great fun easy project to help reduce the scrap pile. Sometimes mindless sewing really hits the spot.

OK friends....here it is..... the Christmas mystery top I made playing along with Apocketfullofmysteries group.....

We Have Water !!!!!

It was a lot of expense, and a lot of work and a lot of mess but we finally got the city water installed just before dark tonight. I was so happy to finally have water again that I scrubbed the bathroom and did laundry first thing LOL. We got the trench dug yesterday but did not get the pipe layed and hooked up till late this afternoon, checked for leaks, fixed one, then had to bury the line to protect it from these bitter temps..... 9 right now. It rained during the night last night so we had to scoop water out of the trench so we could work. What a mess !

Went to move the trucks around a little after we finished working and my truck brakes were frozen so had to mess with it to get the truck to move. Gawd I hate winter !........

Last Load of the Year Delivered

I got lucky this evening and the customer asked me if I would like to unload today instead of tomorrow so I said YES ! The job site that I went to was wayyyyyyy up on a mountain, at a clay mining spot where they are building a plant to manufacture concrete. It was kinda spooky going up there , these pictures were taken out of the passenger side window of my truck !

It is freezing rain now, so I pulled into this truckstop for the night. Will go on home tomorrow if mother nature allows. Will just decide when I wake up. They are salting the roads but I would rather wait till mid morning to give the roads time to improve......

HO HO HO

Close to Home

my weird load

Pictures of magestic mountains in AZ

Isn't this gorgeous scenery? My hubby took these on one of his recent loads up on highway 77 in Arizona.

Hiya again......

Just wanted to give you a peak at what I worked on last weekend when I was in the motel. I was just zipping along on it , having a great time and I ran out of scrappy squares, so this one had to get put aside till I can get home to my scrap bins and cut more squares. I think I am gonna like it !

This weekend I am stuck in Oklahoma City, OK without a load....... this is getting to be a real regular situation... so, I am doing some real serious thinking about what I am going to do in the new year to remedy this situation. More on that subject when it is a done deal.......

I'm still alive LOL

Just finally got wide load #2 delivered in a tiny town called Foreman, Arkansas. I came back down here to the Flying J truck stop in Texarkana because it kinda looks like I am stuck for the weekend with no load. At least here I will have good food to choose from (great BBQ place across the road from here). Thought I would stick a couple of pics in here from my last 2 loads so you can see the stuff I have been dragging around the country.

On The Road Again ....

Well kids, I finally made myself get back in the truck and come back to work. I loaded a 12 ft wide piece of machinery and a few smaller ones this morning in Mansfield, Ohio. It turned out to be a pretty easy load to chain down and it has not been bad to pull so far....just gotta get used to that extra 2 ft hanging off both sides of the trailer....and the fact that now I am as wide or wider than the lanes on the highway....just gotta let the excess hang over the shoulder most of the time. I will get a picture of it sometime this week when I have a prettier background LOL.

Right now I am in a little dinky truckstop in a town called Pendleton, KY. No oversized loads allowed to move near Louisville from 4-6 PM so here I sit..... for the whole night now , because by 6 it will be dark and not allowed to move the load after dark either. This time of year wide loads can make a person lazy LOL. I just wish there was a place to get some decent food around here.... I have the great choice of McDonalds or Subway....some choice.....NOT.

My husband has a wide load on also and is running about a hundred miles behind me going the same direction.....talk about timing.... He has the same restrictions as me so unless I goof off somewhere tomorrow I will not even get to see him ...... the story of our life....LOL.

Guess I will goof off for a few hours then hit the hay so I can be rolling as soon as the first streaks of gray light the sky.....

Weekend almost over

I am dreading this weekend being over. Tomorrow it is back to hunting a load for my truck. Wish I could just stay home and play with my fabric, but that just does not pay the bills LOL. I feel pretty proud of myself for what I managed to get done while I have been home this time ! Got a whole stack of quilts to show for it, plus one already Christmas wrapped that is not shown in the stack.

Yesterday the purple and yellow one got donated to be raffled off for Children's Miracle Network benefit. It is hanging in the entry to our local grocery store where they will be selling raffle tickets for the next 5 weeks. I sure hope it brings them a good chuck of doantion $$. Kind of neat seeing something I made hanging in public...even if it is just our small town Food Lion LOL.

Another One Bites the Dust

Got yet another one from my stack of tops quilted and bound ! Now I am down to one small Christmas top that was gifted to me from a dear friend because I admired it, and one scrap quilt that I am very much afraid is too big for my small quilting setup, and one VERY large (88 x 98) Very old scrappy UFO. These 2 big guys will probably end up going out to a long arm quilter when I can come up with the $ to have them quilted.

Now.....what to do for the weekend? ............ there is a pattern flitting around in my mind that just keeps nagging at me to make it.......... there is a stack of weed wacker blocks sitting here waiting to become a top....... i have blocks cut to make a D9P.......there is a small experimental section put together on another block i wanted to try last time I was home...... i need to whip up a couple of fleece raggies for our trucks ........ decisions decisions....... who has time to work?

Another one !!!

I am on a roll ! Almost hate to have to go back to work cause I am having so much fun....LOL. I have calls in to several agents to let them know I am available and have checked on several loads, but nothing promising so far....... If I am here till the first of the week I might actually get the rest of the tops quilted....only 3 more that will fit on my frame ! Finished this last one at 11 last night and my poor hands felt like hamburger from all the binding I have done this past week, but it is sooooooo worth it ! I will have to get busy and stitch up a bunch more tops to replenish the pile waiting. Also got to order another roll of batting, I used the last of the roll of Hobbs and was sad to see it end.....

Well, I am making good use of my time at home while looking for a load...LOL....not really looking too hard . Wanted to share these pics of my latest finish, front and back....first time I ever did a pieced back and I think it came out kinda cute.

Sat here this morning sewing the binding down and watching it snow......yeah....I said the S word LOL. Seems like we are going straight from summer to winter with no autumn for transition. Have I mentioned I HATE WINTER LOL.

Dispatch has closed down for the day so I am enjoying another night's reprieve from my prison on wheels.

TADA!!!!! One finished Christmas gift ! Since I am at home till my trailer is fixed I have been making good use of my time. This is the top that I pieced in the truck, all quilted and bound and laying on my queen sized bed. It turned out a whole lot better than I thought it would !

I also finished quilting and binding a smaller child's quilt that is destined to be given to Project Linus soon.

No telling what else I might come up with if I am here much longer....been embroidering blocks for a future quilt and also cutting up fabric for kits to take on the road with me next time. I have a few other tops waiting to be quilted so maybe one of them might make it's way onto the HQ frame...........

WHEW !!!

Been running around like a mad woman all day but I THINK I got everything done that had to be done. Started my day at the local DMV to take my written HAZMAT test and eye check to renew my driver's liscense. Passed them with flying colors so that was one worry off my mind. Then I had to drive 65 miles down to Abingdon, VA to their DMV to have my fingerprints taken ($83 out of my pocket) for homeland security (needed in my job). Then another $72 and I get a piece of plastic with a picture of some scowling old broad (they claim it is me) and it says I can drive a truck until 2016. That is a discouraging thought...I am not sure I want to be living out of a duffle bag for that long. LOL. Then, since I was that close to Bristol, I went ahead and drove down to the Social Security office.....about now you must be thinking I am a glutton for punishment LOL......but I had to apply for a new SS card because my job says I have to carry one and my old one died years ago ( death by washing machine). Then after another hour's drive I was back home in my recliner, and boy did it feel good. I may not move again all evening except maybe to the fridge or bathroom or bed.

AHHHHHHH home

I have not dropped off the face of the earth....really LOL. I am just at home and so is my hubby so I am busy busy busy......you know, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.....

Been managing to get a few things done crafty wise too. Finished quilting a child's quilt and got it bound and got a few cute embroidery designs stitched out to become future quilt blocks. I just love combining my two favorite crafts. At the moment I am not where I can get or post pictures, so you will have to stay in suspense till I can .......

ON the Road Again.....

And no I was not imitating Willie Nelson LOL. Finally got out of the repair shop and on the road a little before noon. Made almost 500 miles today before darkness made me shut down for the night. Maybe tomorrow I can get an early start and make up for some of this lost time. Tonight my address is 543232 Freightliner Ave/ Rawlins, Wyoming . Got to get to bed soon so I can be on the road at sunup.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

I knew this load was jinxed yesterday morning when I pulled out of the truckstop to go load and another truck was broke down across the intersection so I could not get on the road I was sposed to be on. Then it was 3:30 when they finished loading me and the man calmly announces, this load needs to be in VA by Friday morning....... EXCUSE ME.......This is NOT a 747, this is a Freightliner.....it is over 2900 miles from where I loaded to where it delivers. This is an oversized load (10 ft wide) and OD loads are not allowed to run at night or during rush hours in cities, as well as a lot of other restrictions.

Well now I have a legitimate reason to be late delivering. I am officially broke down here in Jerome, Idaho. Their damn load fell thru the deck on my trailer, so I am here till morning when there will be 2 wreckers meet me here. They will lift the load straight up so that a mechanic can slide steel plates under the load and weld them into place on my trailer. All told I have a $1700 estimate quote for this little escapade. Luckily I do not have to pay it so I am not worrying myself sick. Actually I am sitting here kinda smug because now the agent can't push me to deliver by Friday LOL.

Chilly, drizzly day so playing with computer

Hi friends ! It is chilly and damp today so it is a good day to stay in and play. I think I have figured out how to put pics in so we will give it a try.

This little monster above is my baby boy Foxy. And that foot belongs to our good friend Batty LOL. Fox had his summer haircut there but he is a little hairball now.

And I thought you might like to see the view from my office too LOL. Brings to mind that OLD country song " Lookin at the World Thru a Windshield". Forgot to warn you, I can not carry a tune in a bucket and the instrument I play best is the radio LOL.

I finally figured out how to hang a quilt in the truck for picture taking too, so here is the one I just finished piecing.....of course it desperately needs pressing but that will have to wait till I get home next week.

Nuff chattering for now...will yak at ya'll after I get that load on tomorrow and get a day's running behind me.

Happy trails!
Nancy

Moved to Oregon

Well , I guess my tires had not grown roots into the parking lot up in North Bend, Wa. Tonight I am in Aurora, Or at another TA truckstop. Spent $300 buying a full set of tire chains so I am legal out here now. I have no intention of ever using them but the law says I have to carry them. I am just 17 miles north of the place I will be loading at Monday morning so I will be killing tomorrow here too. It has rained all day today and chilly. Skies are black and ominous looking so will probably last all night too.

FINALLY !!!

Found a load today but it does not load till Monday morning.......BUT...... it delivers 278 miles from my house ! Couldn't plan that better if I had tried ! Look out stash, here I come LOL.

Cold and rainy here this evening so the extra blanket and my tiny footwarmer (foxy) feel pretty good !

Happy trails !

Where to mount my mailbox.....

Well , I am still stuck here in the same truckstop in Washington and I am about ready to get a mailbox and stick it up on the side of my truck and send in a forwarding address. Getting tiresome sitting here searching for loads and calling every agent I can think of with no luck. This slow economy is killing my small business operation.

It has been a drizzly gray chilly day all day today. Days like this it is just so hard to feel like staying awake doing anything. I should have been sewing, but dummy me broke the plastic quarter inch foot, so unless I want to sew with the zipper foot I guess I am out of luck until I get to a store. Some days it almost does not even pay to get out of bed LOL. Oh well.....this too shall pass........

Hi Folks !

Well, I am finally making the plunge and starting a new blog. (actually a friend pushed me.....I didn't jump in LOL) Thanks a lot Batty LOL.

To tell you a little bit about myself.... I am a long haul trucker that wanders around the country hauling stuff on a stepdeck trailer and sewing quilts in my sleeper in between loads. My traveling companion is a 5 lb pomeranian named Foxy that is a spoiled brat. We live in Virginia (or I should say that is where I store my out of season clothes and majority of my stash)

As I figure out a little more how to do this blog thing I will add pictures from time to time, but for tonight I am about ready to close this laptop down and close my eyes for the night.

We are stuck in the beautiful area of North Bend , Washington trying to find a load out of here , hopefully going toward home since it has been 6 weeks since I saw my own house and my Juki.

Happy trails !
Nancy