Mysteries Abundant

Hello everyone...  it's been such a great week at the Quilting Professor's house...  My goal has been not to leave the house unless absolutely necessary - I'm not sure how long I would like this, but it has been great this week! 

I finished up the Pocket Full of Mysteries top, designed by Dorothy Young.... very bright and happy, I think.  When quilted, it will go to the BASICS charity quilt initiative. 

I spent some time today viewing the Sally Collins DVD on Precision Piecing - wonderful!!  I got better just sitting on the couch viewing it... I swear...

I have also been sandwiching some small charity kids quilts.  I love seeing them all stacked and ready to quilt. 

Here is my little comfortable den from which I write this afternoon - the late afternoon sun is trying to stream through the windows... You can see , very dimly, kitty George asleep on the foot of the recliner, on a blanket, covered with a dish towel - his favorite nap place...  Over on the right is the "covered with quilts" chair - the place quilts 'rest' during various phases of construction... and, of course, a quilt spread on the floor... yes, that's home...

Hope you are all preparing for a great new year!

Kate

A Bernina Design Flaw ?????

I HEART BERNINA.  I admit it.  I love my two machines.  I would like five or six more.

Even my Dear Hubby knows the 'make' and 'model' of my machines, except he pronounces it "Bernini", and I remind him that Bernini was an Italian opera composer.

I talk to them.

I wrap them up to stay warm when I 'm not there.

I make sure they get their cholesterol and blood pressure checked...

They are perfect.

I even heart the box they came in, and have kept those original boxes now through three moves. 

But recently I got some new machine oil, having used nearly my last drop....

It came in this adorable little container.

 As you can see, it's official BERNINA OIL - I'm sure it was made from a top-grade SWISS OIL,  from a well high in the Alps owned by Heidi herself , then refined in Zurich somewhere, and then painstakingly put in this tiny little container, because only a few precious drops exist in the western world...  and, like fine perfume, you only need a single drop of the pure essence.

The container is not clear, so you can not see the level of the secret potion inside - I'm sure this is to prevent theft by the cleaning lady, who might covet my priceless, official Bernina oil.
So - I take off the top, put the lovely point down where I want oil (here it looks like I am oiling my cutting mat, lol), and press on the white button...  seems like the thing to do - yes? 

AND NO OIL COMES OUT.  AGAIN AND AGAIN I TRY. 

Turns out it takes both hands, squeezing as hard as I can, to get one drop of oil out of this torture device...  Pressing the button NEVER works - I just squeeze the base of the container until some oil finally oozes out begrudgingly.

IS IT JUST MEEEEEEEEE?? or has anybody else bought this little cutie???
Is Bernina trying to slow global warming by limiting our use of oil??

I can NOT wait til I use it up... maybe I will just take the oil out and put it in another oil dispenser...

.......................... so glad this is all I have to be perturbed about today..

Kate

My Best Christmas Present

Wow, what a great Christmas present this was!!!  If you don't know Sally Collins, she is noted for small-scale, precision piecing that is just drop-dead gorgeous. 

I have long wanted to improve my piecing, so am taking a week-long class with Sally this spring - - I know I have mentioned it before, i am just excited like a kid going to camp for the first time..

So - I decided to do a little homework with her books and this great DVD.

Now, mind you, DVDs can be reaaaaally boring...  and I guess to a non-quilter, this might be so...

but to me, it was just the kind of things I needed to know to make my piecing more reliable and predictable...  yippee... I am gonna watch it again today... 

And then I am going shopping on the Jinny Beyer website for a piece of fabulous border fabric that is going to be my color inspiration for the workshop project.......
The disclaimer:  I am not related to Sally, nor do I receive any benefit from recommending this product...

My project today is to sew this top together, and make a decision about borders...  It will be a charity quilt for the BASICS quilt gathering led by Victoria Finlay-Wolfe in NYC.  You can read about it at    http://bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com.  A very worthy (and fun) project for families that have been homeless and now are moving back into independent housing. 

This is a Christmas Eve mystery from the Yahoo group "A Pocket Full of Mysteries"  - thanks, Dorothy, for the mystery... 

.

A happy quilting today to all of you..

Kate

Something Serious to Discuss

Hello my friends...

During these quiet days after the festivities, I've been reflecting on things in my life that need a bit more order.............. like my sewing room - - - ha , not likely...and my closets .... fat chance.

No, I'm thinking about things like my financial records, etc.  And my address lists..  which brings me to the subject of this blog - namely - online friends and how to 'stay in touch' in case of emergency. 

I belong to an online Yahoo Group (actually several).  Last year one of our beloved members and special friends passed away.  It was some time before the group could ascertain what had happened.  Several times, members have been out of touch for surgery, etc.  Fortunately, they usually pop back up...  Right now , one of my blog friends  (who is sick)  has not posted in a couple of weeks, and I genuinely fear that something is very wrong in her life, and I don't know how to check on her. 

In the old days, all our friends were 'physical', and usually our families knew them , too... or they fell into groups, like "friends from work",, or "friends from the volunteer group", or "friends I used to know when we lived in xxx"...

THE INTERNET HAS CHANGED IT ALL... now we have these 'virtual' but very real relationships...  and we don't always know our full names, our phone numbers, or our addresses.  And our families and partners don't have access to our online lives.

Nowhere do I have a list of "my internet friends'... 
And if something happened to me, no one would know how to get into my blog, etc.

Now, if 'something happens to me', well, frankly, I won't be worrying about it...

But, what if 'something happens to one of you'???? Well, I want to know, because I care.  Because my internet friends are closer friends than I ever expected through this medium.  And if you should be sick, or troubled, I want to try to help...  but I might not know.

Has anyone given this any thought? 

Yes, I know, serious thoughts for a Tuesday morning - but it is what's on my mind.

Kate

A Mysterious Christmas Day

Merry Christmas to All...  I just finished reading my favorite blogs, and reflecting a moment on what good friends these blog-authors have become...  I never imagined that when I started reading and writing blogs...  a wonderful gift, especially to watch other quilters in their creativity... thank you all for your inspiration and your friendship!

It will be a quiet day at our house - DH has been experiencing some stomache problems, so even our meal will be simple...  which means I can spend more time in the sewing room - yippee!!!

I'm doing TWO - yes, nutty me, TWO mysteries... one by Bonnie Hunter, Orca Bay, which I'm sure those of you who are NOT doing it are getting sick of seeing - lol... but here's where I am so far...

At this point, I'm really worried about that electric blue -  but I know myself well enough to know that those surprising color choices often come out better in the end than along the way...  so stay tuned...

The second mystery is by Dorothy, on the Yahoo Group called A Pocket Full of Mysteries...

and here are some blocks from that in progress...  lots more work to do, but so far it seems a great way to bust some stash!  I'm making this one as a donation quilt for Victoria's charity cause, BASICS, so I hope it is happy and bright, and I think it's headed in that direction, with blues, yellows, and oranges!!

Well, DH just said the breakfast cinnamon rolls are nearly ready -  so it's time for me to do some eating to garner strength for all this sewing!!

Hugs to everyone - have a wonderful day - hug everyone you care about.

...............and find a bit of time for some 'happy quilting'...

Kate

It Was a Delivery Day Around Here !!

Hello Hello All -

In keeping with a little bit more relaxed time at the office, I took this afternoon off and came home...  oh how nice... 

The UPS man delivered these:  Books by Sally Collins - - I'm taking a class with Sally this May, so I need to read up.  If yolu have ever seen her quilts in person, they are just breathtaking - small, unbelievably precise... make my heart go pitter pat.  We will be making a personal version of the sampler shown on the middle book - - can you imagine how much we will learn doing that????    Yippee......  and then
the grocery man came and delivered a LOT of groceries to my house... oh boy I love grocery delivery.  The concept of having someone shop, bag, tote, drive, and then bring it into my kitchen - for 7 bucks !!! Oh boy, sign me up.  I buy all my heavy stuff when I have delivery - and then just pick up milk/bread, etc. in between having a delivery every two weeks - - I am a happy camper.





And then I spent some time delivering something myself - some blocks... namely Clue 6 of the Bonnie Hunter Quiltville.com mystery... here are some of my 'parts' from earlier clues:


 And here is how Clue Six came out...  I'm hoping it will turn out very Mediterranean looking - right now the blue sort of shocks you, and my instinct is to rip it out and put something more sedate in there, but I'm gonna leave it, and see if all plays off itself, and off those little string triangles above...  after all, that's what mysteries are for - surprises!!!!  I'll be working on these for the next few days - -  I decided to moderate the scrappiness by using a constant fabric in the center blocks and the corner blocks, and I think I will like it...  still enough variety in the other scrappy parts, I hope.
Right now I am doing the Happy Dance because these little beauties measure out perfectly at 6 1/2 inches -  I think I am finally becoming more predictable in my sewing.... perhaps it helps that I quit using that 1/4 inch foot!!!!  I seem to do better with a regular foot... oh well, we each have to use what works, now, don't we???

I hope everyone is finding some time to sew while still getting prepared for Christmas...  I'm probably nuts, but I'm going to do another mystery quilt on Christmas Eve - I'll post more about that tomorrow or Saturday !!!!

WHAT A GREAT FUN TIME OF YEAR...

Kate

Clue 5..... in progress!

Hi everyone, on the Monday of the week before Christmas!!! 

Here are my "parts" so far for the Bonnie Hunter mystery - Clues 1,2,3,4,and 5... I just love the colors... I keep thinking there must be a lot more neutral to come in the next clue - cause so far the neutral (my yellow) is not very prominent... it will be interesting to see what comes next!  Clue 5 is taking a while - I have 200 done of the 350 needed.   To see what others are doing, visit http://quiltville.blogspot.com.  

Mr. George asked me to say Happy Holidays for him - he is napping in the sunshine, as you see.  He is a very very senior kitty now, 18 in kitty years, which at 6 years per human year is... let's see...  108!    He has been declining for a year now - I thought he wouldn't make it til Christmas, but here he is in his favorite spot, napping in the sun, ready for the holiday - way to go, George!





I have been playing with strip sets of scraps ... I have succeeded in the goal set 18 months ago not to fill any more bins with scraps...  all my scraps from the past year and a half have been sewn into strip sets and then made into something for a charity quilt, like a chinese coins oor something like that...  I like mixing the black with the scraps - we'll see how this one shakes out when it is complete. 

The next two weeks will be very quiet at my house - so, bring on the quilting... I can't wait!!

Happy quilting,

Kate

Holiday Spirit and Underwear

Well - you know how poem goes...  'the stockings were hung by the chimney with care'.........

NOT AT MY HOUSE!

No tree - no stockings...  no goodies...  and then I saw THIS::::

Now, mind  you, I could use some underwear........... but the point hit home...
So - I ordered up some goodies..........
First order was to a great little place called Southern Supreme - in North Carolina - 
They make this "fruitcake" - but it's really nutcake - oh my my is it good - not much of that candied 'stuff' - just loads of nuts............ yummy.  Southernsupreme.com.  You really should look at their website... it's a family business that went viral.

I also got some chocolate from them, too!

Next I ordered up some presents - DH is getting some new clothes - he wears clothes until , oh, well, you know... holes under the arms, etc....  and he has lost weight, so I found some yummy knit shirts and a very cute sweatshirt/hoodie for him...  can't buy him pants online or he would get some of those, too.  He also got some fun little stocking stuffers (I better find those stockings).

And, presents for people I won't see this year , too...  sisters, mom, etc. 

It was great fun until, suddenly, my holiday fun came to a slamming halt:

CREDIT CARD DECLINED!!!!

Eeks...  call VISA - what on earth is wrong............

And the absolutely insane response:::

YOU WERE MAKING AN UNUSUAL NUMBER OF PURCHASES.

GOOD GRIEF, VISA-LADY  - IT'S CHRISTMAS...........

LAUGHING, LAUGHING......

MAYBE THE VISA LADY WILL GET UNDERWEAR IN HER STOCKING.

Kate

A Mountain of Quilts

Hello everyone:

I had a great privilege this past weekend.  I belong to the Sunshine Yahoo Group - we make kids charity quilts that are sent with Rotary doctors who travel the world repairing facial disfigurations for children - children who have been outcasts because of a simple cleft palette.

We send quilts with them - each kid is wrapped in a colorful quilt during surgery, and sent home with the quilt...  a beautiful program started by my friend Terri, in Maine.

Last weekend, a local Rotary group collected a year's worth of donations from their members and gave them to us...  so I went over to my friend Gail's house to sew on labels... When I walked in I saw this great mountain of quilts................ aren't they fabulous!!!

 and that wasn't all of them.  All total, I think we labeled nearly 300 kids quilts that day - all bright, cheery, and snuggly...  here they are all boxed up and ready to be taken to the Rotary warehouse in San Francisco...

 I often wonder what "kind" of quilter I want to be when I 'grow up"...  Well, I'm not sure where my quilting obsession may lead,  but I do hope I am always a charity quilter - cause doing this kind of work just feels sooo very good..  and what a nice time of year to feel good about charity work...

Happy Holidays -

Kate

Saturday at the Quilting Professor's House

Wowee but I do LOVE Saturdays... especially when the grocery shopping got done earlier in the week.  I even have some food in the frig ready to eat without cooking - so it's time for quilting!!!!

Most of you will recognize these as the famous RED STRINGS everyone is working on for the Bonnie Hunter mystery.....

WHAT?  They aren't RED??? REALLY?????   oh, yes, my Red is really blue...  but aren't they cute??  I know, this isn't enough of them... still working on that.  DH is pulling off the paper - bless his little pea pickin' heart.

For a very scary day, I LOST CLUES ONE AND TWO .... I picked them up before the cleaning Lady came, and couldn't find them - thank goodness they showed up...  whew!

And look at my cactus go, blooming it's little heart out in the kitchen window...

Otherwise, DH and DK (dear Kitty) are both throwing up today (for various reasons) - so I shall just focus on sewing... 

Kate

The Men Who Came to Visit Today

    Hi hi everybody - what a fabulous day I had today - I got to work at home today on some big paperwork projects...  which means a fire in the fireplace, a cup of great hazelnut coffee, and best of all - SWEATPANTS!!!! yippee...

What I did not expect was all the wonderful MEN who visited me today...

Mr. USPS POST MAN put a box on my step - inside was  some lovely Essential threads from Connecting Threads - that were on 40% sale!!!  (I think they still are)  yummy.. yummy.

 Mr. Postman in a Truck brought a giant envelope full of Lotto Blocks from the Sunshine Yahoo Guild, from Tammy, who conducts the block Lotto - this was a set of fall colors - all snuggly and warm - can't wait to play with them...

And later this afternoon, DEAR HUBBY showed up with another box on the step - inside were these fabulous cute fabrics from the QUILTBUG shop in New York... a great sale, and free shipping!!!  Beautiful bright colors for great kids quilts...

What a fabulous fabulous day !!!!  Funny I didn't show you any of the paperwork I was supposed to be doing(grrrrr)... 

Tomorrow MR. FENCE REPAIR MEN come... ok, I'm not very excited about that...  ho hum..

Weekend on the way - yippee!

Happy quilting,
Kate

Quilting Stuff .... and that Tomato

Hello everyone -  I warn you, I have a bunch of weird stuff to put together tonight in this post...First off, it's my Clue 3 Orca Bay units - I swear they arranged themselves this way - - does anyone remember a weird bug movie where cockroaches arranged themselves on the walls in menacing messages??? oh good grief, why did I think of that????  This is much more pleasant...

 And, for all of you who are now living the "Snowy Woods" scenery, I'll share two photos from my back yard - yes - California in December... now , mind you - it IS winter here - and the natives think it is terribly cold - - 50s in the day, 40s at night... but my petunias seem happy enough...

And this amazing little tomato has ripened - it's been on the vine since September...  and its the only one this little plant grew - it was a strange little plant that someone left laying in the driveway to my surprise, so we planted it - it has weird curled up leaves - or maybe some sort of disease - but it grew one great Christmas tomato!!

I just finished up the very busy pre-holiday time at the University - finished my last banquet last night - so for the next few weeks, my work days will be normal length and much quieter than usual (I do mostly administration, rather than classroom teaching, so don't have the time off that faculty do)... but I shall enjoy these quiet weeks, and relatively short work days - - and do lots of quilting!!!!

Happy quilting to all, and to all a good 1/4 inch seam...

Kate

December Hexagon Quilt Progress Report - yippee!

Another month's work on the hexagon quilt has enabled me to finish one of the five interior borders...  and I love the interior border...  Soon I will be able to start on squaring up the corner on at least one corner - which will eventually make this a FOUR-sided piece instead of a FIVE -sided one... that will be great fun!

I am really struggling with those green diamonds - they are just huge, and take forever... three finished, one almost finished, one started, one yet to start!!!!

..........moving forward one tiny square at a time...

Happy Quilting,
Kate

YIKES !!!!

It was a heck of a night here - -

THE WIND BLEW -   20 - 45  WINDS, WITH GUSTS UP TO 90 mph  all around the San Francisco Bay, and especially up on the hills - (where I live)

AND THE EARTH SHOOK - a 2.3 earthquake in Berkeley...

AND IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL...............

MY FENCE CAME A'TUMBLING DOWN..

Kate

Orca Bay and Dryer Lint

Well - that title caught your eye, didn't it????

Here are my units so far for Clues 1 and 2 of Orca Bay.  I think they play nicely together... don't you??

 They don't go very nicely with my dining room rug, but that's no matter...

DH brought this in to me last night - over the Thanksgiving holiday, I prewashed a lot of fabric I bought recently - mostly big pieces I got on great sales, that will be used for backs for charity quilts... 
So this is what my dryer lint looked like...  now tell me, does anyone besides a quilter have such lovely dryer lint?  Look at the value contrast and the complimentary colors!!!!  too funny.

I am looking forward to sharing a new photo of the Great Hexagon Quilt...  I have fallen newly in love with it with the completion of a new section - can't wait to show you - will take the monthly archive photo on the first of the month... come back to see!

Happy quilting,

Kate 

A Little Inspiration

Have you seen the movie "Made in Dagenham" ???  It was released a year or so ago...

It's a story of some cheeky women who - well -  who SEW...

These women worked in the Ford factory in England in the 1960s, sewing together the seats and other cloth areas of cars... and they had this crazy idea that they should be paid as much as men who were doing similar jobs...  so they went on strike - unheard of for - - well - - - you know - - WOMEN.

It.'s a great little movie about standing up for what you believe in - and about women...  and what we can achieve when we set our mind to it.

I love long weekends cause DH watches movies, and I do handwork... and sometimes I get to PICK - and we watch something like this instead of a shoot'em/swear at'em/chase scene movie... 

So - this weekend, do something radical for women who work, or who own businesses - buy something from them - - go to Etsy and buy something from one of our fabulous crafty friends...

............and Happy Quilting, of course.

Kate





First Quilts with Bonnie Hunter

Good Saturday morning...

Bonnie Hunter is having a Linky Party to people's First Quilts - so here's one of mine...  my 'real' first quilt was stolen many years ago - but this is around the same time.  A very traditional Dresden Plate, made during graduate school in the late 70s...  you can see I got 'fancy" with my sashing and cornerstones...

This quilt is still very much in use - the dresdens are coming loose occasionally, but other than that, it keeps me warm when I am cold!! 

  

This one was made with the leftovers - the beginning of that pesky "Stash" issue!  Oh, I really got fancy here - I put piping between those center blocks... oh my...

Another 70s quilt:  my first log cabin

And a "just squares" with those Smiley Faces - no quilt historian will have trouble dating this quilt!!

And, an early Bear's Paw - I seem to have moved to a controlled color palette - I think this was the first quilt not made from scraps;;;  the Bear seemed to have blunted most of his nailtips in this quilt!!  I had not yet figured out how to avoid chopping off all the points of triangles!!  I remember I thought putting a sheet on for backing was a novel idea at that time!!

So - those are some of my early quilts:  they may not be perfectly pieced or quilted -  but they have kept me warm for more than thirty years - and these are still the quilts I sleep under...  they are old friends now!

And some new friends are awaiting me in my sewing room, so let me go and make their acquaintance!

Happy quilting,

Kate

Little Cooking, Lots of Sewing !!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - and to those of you who are having beautiful, traditional meals with china, crystal, and candles - I salute you!!

We have chosen a simpler day -   there IS a bird in the oven, but it will make sandwiches.

 and the pie is thawing  (as opposed to cooking, lol)... sandwich and pie - sounds perfect to me...

So, bird cooking and pie thawing, I can sew::: First, the binding on this charity quilt is finished - that print fabric is of sneakers - so DH says this is a certifiable "boy" quilt!! 

 And the binding is partly done on this other charity quilt...

 so now I can turn my focus to marking the quilting on this beauty, which will go into my permanent personal quilt collection...  I had hoped to sandwich it tomorrow, since the LQS will be quiet and the classroom open, but , alas, the back fabric I ordered did not arrive - the store is tracking the box... but at least I will get it all marked.

After that?  Oh wow, lots of possibilities - maybe drag out an UFO and make some progress - or work on one of the many WIPS in my sewing room!  Fun, fun...

I'll call you when the turkey sandwich is ready...

Happy quilting,

Kate

Darling Little Charity Quilt

Hi all - I just had to share this darling little charity quilt...  I did not piece it, just quilted it.  It's part of the Sunshine Yahoo Guild's initiative to make quilts In Memory of Bev, a former member ...  so I don't know who pieced it - but it is oh so beautifully done...

Isn't it amazing that someone went to so much trouble to put in those tiny sashings, and that teeny inner border...  it's beautiful sewn, too...

Some lucky kid is gonna get a lot of love in this one!

Happy Quilting,

Kate

Orca Bay Step One Finished!

So, here are my Step One hourglass units: 220 of them. Actually I need 4 more - I dropped them, and they didn't get in the photo!! LOL.

My colors are pale yellow for the neutral background, lime green, navy blue, and the rust that you see in the little units... It's my most adventurous color choice, so we will see how it works out!

Tomorrow is the day for the cleaning lady - so for one short moment, all the little "bits" of fabric and thread will be picked up off the floors... except for the sewing room, which I do not allow her to clean - or should I say I don't allow her to SEE !! Too much stuff everywhere to have her try to clean - once in a while I vacuum and dust...

I am SOOO looking forward to Thanksgiving. DH will be working (you know, he is one of those wonderful medical people who work on the holidays) - but that's ok, I will have great wonderful quiet time for sewing.

I ordered some back fabric - if it comes in time, I will pop in to my LQS and use the tables to do a bit of sandwiching - I have two larger quilts that I can't sandwich on my own small tables - need the big size! Need I say that sandwiching is my very LEAST favorite part of quilting - - although it is a lovely excuse to visit the LQS !!!

I wish everyone who is cooking up giant feasts the best of luck with your preparations! I am cooking a small turkey, mainly for the leftover sandwiches - perhaps I can eat a sandwich while I MAKE a sandwich !!!!

Happy Quilting,

Kate

FROM A TINY BEGINNING...

Well - this is my big accomplishment so far today:

yep - two... Two hourglass units measuring 2.5 inches.

Yes, those are the hourglasses from Step one of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay... which I am doing with pale yellow, rust, navy blue, and lime green...  I need a LOT more than two of these!!!  lol... tomorrow IS Saturday !!

Happy Weekend to everyone!

Endless Strip Sets

About a year ago, I vowed to stop filling up bins with scraps...  and since I quilt a lot, I seem to make a lot of scraps!!!  And, for a year, I have managed to use up those scraps as i made them, doing things like string quilts.  Recently I've been sewing together strip sets - and looking for interesting things to do with them...  So, here are a couple of charity tops made up from scrap sets...  The first one is a Bonnie Hunter design from her website ;  on the second I just made snowballs out of strip blocks...

I am gradually learning to put more solids with my scrappy quilts so the eye can 'rest' somewhere - progress!  (and don't tell anyone but one row is in there wrong - in the middle - but I'm sure as heck not ripping it out!

 Boy, you sure can see the power of white in that quilt, can't you?  Not sure I would put those in there if I was doing it again...  just trying to use up that piece of scrap!!

Happy Quilting, everyone...

Kate

Flying geese flimsy is FINISHED - HOORAY!

This is a Linda Ballard center design, with a Seminole pieced border around it just for fun, as if piecing all those flying geese had not been enough of a challenge !!!! 

I hope to get this all quilted by the New Year - hope I can meet that schedule.
 

This sweet little thing is a charity quilt of nine-patch squares - put together like this they make an interesting pattern, don't they? 

A good day - one finish for me, one finish for charity !!

And a wonderful guild meeting with Kathy Miller, the "Singing Quilter" - if you have a chance to hear her, do it - she's really fun...

a great day... and tomorrow the neighborhood has a Craft Boutique, which we can just walk down the street and enjoy !!

.................and, how could I forget - I stopped up the kitchen sink with some leftover spaghetti - now I ask you, how could spaghetti stop up like cement????  DH wants to wait til Monday to have the plumber............ heck, no dishes to wash tomorrow , sounds fine to me... 

Happy Quilting,

Kate