Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 3:24 pm on April 11, 2018 Permalink  

  More of the same outside but not so much here in the sewing studio. I finished up a project by shopping off of the button tree to the tune of two dozen buttons. My hands are beyond sewing that many buttons on one by one. It was time for plan “B.”

  I had found some great glue that I keep on hand . . . “9001.” It works on metal, fabric, glass and wood. It currently is holding our huge multi level birdhouse onto the plywood base for the third season coming up. Our octagon window in the bathroom has a huge amount of it in the guts of the exterior side of the window holding all those fabricated pieces of wood that is just beyond the exterior frame.

  Today with tweezers in hand I popped a small pearl of the 9001 on the back of each button and carefully placed the button where it was needed. If perhaps I would be washing the fabric using the 9001, I wouldn’t trust it. For crafting . . . by the time the buttons fall off the project that it was on it will have lost its luster and it will be time to put something new up.

  The entire time the button project was going on the embroidery machine ran like a top in the background, stopping just long enough to have a different color of thread as per the design I have loaded. Today was the 10th of the largest designs to stitch out within this packet. Here after will be smaller designs to add to and mix in and stitched together. The end result . . . a rectangle of multiple designs all using a mixture of different colors of plaid flannel . . . a true Christmas Mash up project.

  Dennis and I had lunch together . . . afterward he took a nap and I retreated to the sewing studio. In time he came down and we shared a bottle of Sprite . . . and he playing some solitaire on my sewing computer and I worked with thread and fuzz. Just a hell of a good day.

   
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  Noreen 4:59 pm on April 10, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Art, Arvel, Orlin ( 4 )   

  Hmm. If the sun could and would come out in the early morning hours, we could have better success at getting rid of some of this snow. With having the concrete driveway, it doesn’t take the sun rays long to clean it up and dry it off. It sure beats the two strips of eroding concrete we suffered with in times past. I am sure that in its day having two strips was quite the home improvement.

  Yesterday I happened to look in my “junk” emails. I was flying through them ready to take the whole shooting batch out with one flip of a finger when the name “Art Schafer” shot out at me as if it were in fluorescent letters. Art and I had lost contact.

  Art Schafer is Orlin’s brother. I still consider him my brother-in-law. Art and I are close to the same age. The difference is I have a wonderful full balanced life and Art will live out his life in the Buffalo Lake Health Care Facility. I believe it has been all of 10 years that a car accident put him in a very fragile physical and mental condition. When Mom was in the same facility I would stop and see him. Sometimes he would be agitated and not comfortable having anyone visit. Sometimes he would enjoy reminiscing. In February of 1964 Art and Julie, Orlin and I stood up for each other in a double wedding.

  The email in my junk was a simple “hi Noreen” and nothing more. I tried to reply to the email but it was labeled as undeliverable. I have no idea what Internet connections he has available in the facility. When I contacted Kevin with the news of the contact, Kevin reminded me of the time eight years ago when he and Uncle Arvel, Orlin and Art’s oldest brother, visited Art in the facility. Art was using a vice grip plier with an allen wrench. The narrow tip of the wrench allowed Art to punch keys on his computer as his way of using the computer. Art’s speech was compromised after the accident but he was an avid computer user.

  Today I decided to contact Art’s daughter in Fargo via an email. I told her of the email I had received from her dad and asked if she had an email address she could share with me for her dad. Time will tell if I hear from her. It touched me that out of the blue I had heard from Art. I would so enjoy letting him know that. If I don’t hear from his daughter, I may well contact the facility and see if there would be another avenue available. I most likely will not give up very easily. Family is still family.

   
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  Noreen 4:41 pm on April 9, 2018 Permalink  

  The End of a Day 

  I had a great day.  It was a mix of laundry, dust bunnies, a lunch date with Dennis and the sewing studio.  In the quiet of the sewing studio, I reflect on where Mom was at the age I am now.  More than likely her and Dad would be sitting at their kitchen table having a lunch date all the while keeping an eye on what was going by on the township road.  After lunch Dad would head to his workshop in the basement and work on his wood planer or his wood router.  Mom would head to her sewing room in the north bedroom of their home.  

  For Dennis, he headed out to the patio porch after lunch to take in a western on the television out there.  For myself, I continued working in the sewing studio on several designs that are in a packet called Christmas Mash Up.  Multiple depictions of Christmas ending up being 11″ by 8″ finished projects.  It’s a very satisfying place for me.  Do I have a timeline?  No.  Do I know where this project will find a home?  No.  Do I care?  No.  It’s my thing.  It’s my deal.  I am happy at the end of the day when I have something to show for the day that God has graciously given me.  I am taking the days waiting for the sun and breeze to dry my yard.  Then I will put away the stitching and I will have dirty finger nails and muddy shoes to show for what my day held.

   
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  Noreen 4:13 pm on April 8, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Brett, Kersten ( 6 )   

  The fallen snow is quite beautiful on the evergreen boughs . . . again. The concrete is staying clear as the snow falls. It may be cold, it may be snowing, but the sun is up there in the hiding in the clouds and it will not be shunned. These “indoor” days are being taken advantage of in the sewing studio.

  Each spring I have second thoughts about how many of the flower gardens I will tend to. My gut tells me to put them into grass seed. The spirit that controls the gut usually has me out there with the Mantis tiller as soon as the ground is dry enough. There seems to be plenty of time for this debate to continue.

  I am cranking out some awesome stitching that can be comparable to Kersten’s Pokémon quilt. I continue using up plaid flannel scraps and making great use of the quilt batting scraps that nephew Brett passed along as each block already has the batting in place. I will get some photos going for the near future. As each design is anywhere between 55,000 and 68,000 stitches, when the last stitch is done and I can retire the last spool of thread back in the cabinet, I am ready to climb those steps and take part in the ground level portion of our home.

   
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  Noreen 2:11 pm on April 7, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Carrie ( 12 ), Jeremy, Megan ( 9 ), Nicholas ( 6 )   

  Megan’s Woodworking Project 

  

  Megan is in 7th grade and there is no longer a class called Home Economics. I remember my friends Renee telling me about this when her Gabby was in junior high school. It is now a varied year that does include woodworking, some DIY, no cooking or baking, but with some sewing, weaving and sketching. I need to ask Carrie what this course is actually called. This was the last year that Nicholas’ school class would be doing anything for Valentine’s Day. He was so over making paper valentines and coming up with unique wording. At that time Jeremy helped Nicholas with a candy vending machine to have candy for his classmates. The plans were developed in the workshop in February. There was nothing stated in the class curriculum that it had to be an original, just that it included wood. For Megan it had to be a a home project detailed with photos of the various stages of work and a descriptive report followed by the finished project. It was Megan’s turn to get herself full of saw dust and a bit of glue and wood stain. Megan also told me she had never really looked at her dad’s shop before this. Jeremy may find it a bit crowded in his workshop in time to come. Fun times with their dad.

   

   
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  Noreen 5:57 pm on April 6, 2018 Permalink  

  There doesn’t seem to be any let up in the phone calls that start in the morning hours through the late afternoon. Dennis does answer his cell phone when it rings. I think he has something going on with a gal named Elizabeth who tries to give him a cruise. I am thankful that family members send me a text if they need me and then a phone call may ensue if my response is going to put my fingers in a permanent cramp. For the cost of $19.00 a month we did decide to keep our land line. Many folks our age still use the antiquated tool.

  More threats of snow coming for the weekend. I have decided to take advantage of it being too nasty for anything outside and get as much stitching done as I feel like. Yesterday when we were in Mankato we stopped at Mills Fleet Farm and I stocked up on dish towels to machine embroidery. My favorite quilt shop “River City Quilts” was also visited. All sewing accessories were 30% off. Fusible web is always handy to have on hand whether an actual project or to help with a tough mending problem. No . . . I did not purchase any fabric.

  The north winds really whipped it up yesterday. In 2015 we purchased a new solid wood front door. Upon the installation it was noted that the door frame is quite skewed. Some decades ago it was an open porch with spindled posts and the slated floor for the rain to run off of. Out came the Press and Seal product . . . the one that advertises you can put over leftovers, tip the bowl over and it will hold the contents. What do you know . . . it also works to put over the crack between the door and the door frame. Why did I not think of this in the winter of 2015 and going forward. It is never too late to work through the little things in life that really just pisses you off.

   
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  Noreen 4:53 pm on April 5, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis has been using a CPAP machine for sleep apnea for nine years. It is a condition where the patient will stop breathing during sleep. I wonder how many people in times past died in their sleep and it was listed as natural causes . . . Hello! From not breathing – I guess that is as close to natural causes as you can get. Those who snore and those who live with someone that snores know that many times there could be a long duration where the person snoring is not breathing . . . sleep apnea. It does not allow for a restful night of rest regardless of how much sleep the person thinks they are getting. It is exhausting for the heart having to rouse the person by a hard jerk to get the body to respond. Dennis went through the sleep study by staying overnight in the hospital being hooked up to multiple machines giving readings. It was severe durations during the hours of sleep that Dennis stopped breathing. Dennis never goes to bed without the mask on. Dennis never travels without packing the CPAP.

  Keeping the product clean is a pain. The long tube that is hooked to a humidifier via the machine that causes the burst of air that rouses the patient is corrugated. They have not as yet manufactured a brush long enough to properly clean it. The gasket that is worn each night is of a latex that is meant to be taken off the hard plastic and cleaned. The soft gasket has multiple pliable areas that are hard to clean.

  Today we went to Mankato to the medical supply store and we purchased a “So Clean 2.” It uses activated oxygen with oxidizing properties for complete sanitizing. Each morning Dennis will be cleaning his unit and it is timed and will be ready for him to use by bedtime. Totally cleaning of the hose, the humidifier and the face mask. I read reviews for hours on the Internet. We thought about this long and hard until we found out Dennis’ nephew has been using this every day for over a year. Never needing to fill our sink again with hot water that has bleach and non-detergent soap and then getting it all rinsed is going to be wonderful. It is a 30-day refundable product.

  Prior to Dennis having this last carotid surgery, the lung X-ray indicated several spots of congestion in his right lung. That played right into the fact that Dennis usually has phlegm to get rid of . . . which is not socially acceptable. When I have heard him sneezing or having a cough into the face mask during the night, it meant an automatic cleaning the next day. This is so worth a try. Personally I cannot imagine having to wear a mask over my face every night much like a gas mask. Putting that aside it would bring peace of mind that the unit is totally cleaned for every night’s use.

  We did do some errands after the medical store and we are home safe and sound and happy to be home after a busy day in the big town.

   
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  Noreen 3:07 pm on April 4, 2018 Permalink  

  Timely But Satisfing 

  The Bernina sewing machine has been in our home for a bit longer than two years.  I had promised myself that I would not be complacent.  I would challenge myself one step at a time.  For just as long, I have had several design packets that incorporate fabric applique with embroidery stitches.  The latest snow storm was the perfect time to see if I could and would pursue it.  Aunt Lorraine is always a good source of encouragement.  She knew the applique was timely but worth the effort.  She hit the timely on the head.  The packet of designs works with a lot of checked flannel material.  If I had not pieced a checked flannel quilt top for Dennis I would not have been inclined to go and purchase small pieces of various flannel.  Scraps spurred me on.  This packet has thirty designs.  Not exactly something to get done in several days.

  The first applique block took some time and some thinking on which of the flannel scraps to use as the base.  The white fabric for the stars needed to be stitched onto the background fabric while in the hoop as per the steps that the flash drive had programmed into the machine and then I needed to trim it down for the embroidery stitches to finish it off. When the design block is taken off of the hoop, it already has the sashing attached to all four sides.  The grouping for a finished project is done by stitching multiple sizes of finished blocks using a half inch seam allowance.  Each block comes out of the hoop at the coordinating size with the quilt batting already sandwiched between the bottom and the top.

  

  I never cease to be amazed how it all comes together.

  Companies that employ people to digitize designs . . . that’s high tech.   Companies that market digitized designs to people such as myself are a Godsend.  I never in my wildest dreams would have thought when I purchased the sewing machine that I could stretch myself to work with zip files that were emailed to me in a matter of seconds.  I did need some guidance from Kevin and Kersten of getting the zip files into folders on my laptop and then getting the designs within those folders loaded on a flash drive for the sewing machine to read and then stitch.  I am a nooby to all that is out there, but it sure is exciting to learn.

  When I visit with friends and realize how few of them planned for the quiet hours of their retirement, I am thankful.  I never need to find something to do when Dennis and I are each in our own zones.  I enjoy family, community, my faith, reading, gardening, quilting, and sewing and it all makes for a very balanced life.  That is the secret to life . . . balance.  Though I am what some would call being a hermit, I have choices each and every day as to what to do with the God given day.  Life is quite spectacular.

   
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  Noreen 4:24 pm on April 3, 2018 Permalink  

  Snow bunnies are abound. Talk about heavy wet stuff. I went out long enough to get the “stink blowed off of me” . . . as Dennis would say. The concrete is wet underneath. As soon as I pushed the snow off for a path into the garage, it became slick to walk on. The wind from the north is brutal. Neighbor Randy comes home for noon lunch. It didn’t take long he was taking swaths of snow off of our driveway. When I went out at five to push a path open, the far end of our driveway had quite a drift over it. Randy will be back as I don’t think he is ready to park his long green toy for the season. I have allowed him to know how much his help is appreciated.

  I had been in the sewing studio for most of the day. There are still a few leftovers from Easter Sunday to tide us over for supper. I have had some software programs for several years for a twist on appliqueing in conjunction with machine embroidery while all is in the hoop under the needle. When I texted my Aunt Lorraine in Arizona after lunch, she warned me it is slick but very time consuming. Time will tell if I have anything to share here in days to come. With the weather forecast as it is, I have the time to try this.

  In the snow it was easy to spot a pair of Cardinals and also a pair of Blue Jays in the Lilac bushes along with Grackles, and little tiny birds picking at seed pods from last years Lilac blossoms. That made my day. The little things in my day feed my soul. Talk about feeding . . . I think I would be happy with some popcorn for supper. We had a warm noon lunch and neither of us have really done much since. I’ll need to check with Dennis on that.

   
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  Noreen 3:30 pm on April 2, 2018 Permalink  

  Dennis and I are in a relax mood this afternoon. We each had an item on our individual agendas today and once we did all we could do, it was downtime. Complete Basements is coming on Thursday for a visit in regard to our frozen underground drain line of the sump pump and how this can be remedied for winters to come. Our trench that we dug on Saturday is taking the water from the foundation and in time all will thaw out. But . . . you can bet a dollar to a doughnut when their person leaves here on Thursday there will be an appointment on my calendar for their people to be back for a fix.

  Dennis went and had a visit with his favorite nephew Brett in regard to using some of his equipment after the frost is out of the ground. Dennis got it done.

  With the cold week upon us we can be content that we have done all we can at this point and chill.