Where did this day fly off to? Ended up with a happy customer on an embroider job and a happy camper when it came to a visit from a long time friend over a pot of coffee this afternoon. Dennis is making supper and I am on board with that. His take: instant mashed potatoes with a can of Campbell’s Chunky soup on top of the potatoes. Sometimes less is more.
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Noreen
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Noreen
I am re-visiting an older craft of mine . . . alterations. It has been decades since I have taken a factory garment apart with intentions of making it better, aka: making it functional.
Many moons ago I did a fair amount of alteration work for my friend Sharon when we lived just a section apart in Boon Lake Township. Sharon always went home pleased. Time will tell on my latest acquisition. We barely had put the car away from a trip to the northern lands when Brett was in my basement shopping the fabric stash. I have given him a cart-blanche pass. Many families have shared their loved one’s fabric stashes with me and it makes me happy to encourage another quilter. Brett is not the best on colors that are compatible. He left with three yards today, and I told him I would take some time to put together two additional fabrics with measurements of three yards each. He is busy making t-shirt quilts for children of friends who were in school with his children. I also picked up an embroidery order from Brett as one of the blocks in this project needs a bit of extra sentiment.
If I get too busy and Dennis is sitting at the dining room table with fork and knife in hand, I know a trip to Subway will not allow him to go hungry. I forget about meal times when my sewing studio is humming.
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Noreen
Whenever we have had temps in the mid-thirties, I could not resist cracking open the east bathroom window for a bit during the midday. The winds have been horrific, but the fresh air was too good to leave totally outside. Today, as the tidy bowl lady made her weekly visit to smarten up the bathroom, I was taken aback as to how much dirt was on the shelf adjacent to the window that has brought in fresh air during this last week. I can only imagine from how far away these little grains of dirt came to land on my white shelf.
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Noreen
Every time we have several days of warm weather, I swear the green grass in the front yard seems to have gotten longer. Dennis mowed the lawns for the last time in mid October, and here we are . . . ready or not. I am sure there is plenty of winter left.
Taking these January thaws is not hard to take. I do notice when the school bus drops the kids off just a bit to the south of our home, invariably the smaller kids are stomping through the water caught in the gutter of the street. Yup, my kids did the very same thing . . . right up to their tiny hinies. I know time cannot be turned back. I am so thankful that God has given me so many vivid heartfelt memories. It has always been my blessing that I have saved the best and leave the rest.
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Noreen
In the Olden Days
In the olden days there was nothing to do but find the right person to give you the best answer for your question or your quandary. Generally that person was Mom. I knew that there was a rather large library in the town 12 miles to the northeast of us. I also knew that taking two small children into a new environment that had a lot of things to take, touch and pick up was not a good thing. I won’t even go into all of the places the kids could have and would have found to hide in. If it was about wall papering, baking, canning, butchering, dressmaking or quilting, the best was to wait until it was afternoon nap time for Carrie and Kevin and then call Mom. It was a good thing we were both on the same telephone line. The long distance charges would have broken the piggy banks. My adviser was with me through the time that my children were adults. My quest for Mom’s information may have wavered a bit, but I knew she still had more to give when asked.
How much I knew, came to light these last two winters when helping someone get started in quilting. Their impatience came to the surface, but I reminded them I had cut my teeth on sewing from the time my feet could pump the treadle on the sewing machine that sat in our family kitchen. Even when my legs were a bit short, Michael would be on the floor and wait until I gave the wheel, which was strung with the leather belt which was in turn linked to the treadle near the base of the sewing machine inches from the floor, a turn. He would give the treadle a pump back and forth. As the pump would go back and forth, I was able to hit the treadle with the tip of my toes and off I went . . . until I had to stop for alignment of the carpet rags we were sewing.
Today the quilting trend is very much alive and well. I am working with fabrics and sewing accessories that were not around when I was a young mother. I still like to learn new techniques. I only live three blocks from a huge new library. I get my reading literature there every several weeks. When I want an answer to a question and I want it “now,” I turn to YouTube on my computer. Any and all questions that could possibly need an answer are there. I can watch a video, slow the video down or take it back to the beginning as often as needed. It is similar to having someone right at your elbow.
A bit of a rocking motion of the iron to follow the curve, plus rotating the project, made for a good flat lying snowflake. I wonder if the Weaver Pres-Kloth Co. in Omaha, Nebraska, is still manufacturing these useful tools.
As much as my sewing studio sports new equipment to quilt with, to embroider with or to patch jeans, I have many of my old staples just within an arms reach. Today it happened that I needed the pressing ham. It is a pillow type of pressing aid that allows items to lay over the curve. Mine happens to be filled with sawdust. Hmm, in all of Kevin’s curiosity as a tike, I am amazed he didn’t have to find out how much sawdust was in it. It has just the right about of give to be effective when pressing. The tip of a hot iron doesn’t always do justice when pushed into specific small areas. Today I was able to get the hot tip of the iron into areas of a snowflake that had no thread stitching. The fabric was pressed just as if it were lying flat on the ironing board as all the stitching around the snowflake did raise the edges a bit.
I am not in any hurry with this latest project, and I will admit the 15 snowflakes the pattern has called for was . . . to say the least, time consuming. Satin stitching around them, and then cutting them out, took a bit out of the old arthritic wrist. The best part of this, no matter how long it may take me . . . I love the challenges that are within my sewing studio square footage. I wonder what the concrete company owner, Brett, would say if I asked him for a quote to push out the north wall of the basement. I don’t need any more square footage on the main level, just here in the basement. As Kevin would say: tee-hee!
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Noreen
We did have sunshine off and on today. As I was in my sewing studio, I glanced out of the south windows. There in the sunlight were hues of greens, blues and bronze from the colored jars that were on the shelf catching the rays of the sun. Just the little things that make for a good feeling. The awnings had a continuous dripping of the melting snow from the 30 degree plus temperatures at the peak of the afternoon. All is good as the coming week hopefully brings more sun. Everything is better with sunshine.
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Noreen
A good day for domestic items. Several good library books are near my chair for enjoyment during evening hours. My new prescription to assist in good heart health was $2.00 for the month. While I was in the grocery story, I ran into Gloria. She had made all the pies for the Home Town Café for years. Strawberries were on sale, and as we visited she gave me her Strawberry Pie recipe. Our pie is now chilling in the refrig on Stauffer Ave. It had been a long time since I had made a Crisco pie crust. One thing I will never do again is to stir up a batch of peanut butter cookies and store the dough in the refrig overnight. It was as hard as a brick and took a long time to be workable. The Crisco and peanut butter really chilled out. Chicken tenders are in the oven, boiled potatoes are done and green beans will assist. A very good day for the Grammie on Stauffer. Time will be coming for feet up and checking out the new choices from the library.
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Noreen
Need It? I Got It!
Yes, yes, the Bernina Sewing Machine can almost do anything . . . but . . . there are times I hearken back to projects that need the simpler supplies. My packet of Singer Dressmaker’s Tracing Paper comes in very handy. For the handsome price of $.39 I had the selection of nine sheets of paper, each at 6.5″ x 19.5″ in a choice of 4 white sheets, 2 yellow sheets, 1 orange sheet, 1 blue sheet and 1 red sheet. I could not have asked for more. After a season of doing a lot of scrappy quilt projects, I am working on a quilt with a bit more difficulty and am enjoying it to no end. I will admit having the radio tuned to a station that spends a lot of time on the “Market Report,” tells me it would be a good time to ship out the hogs that tip the scale at 220-250 lbs. I sure wish I had several hundred of those wandering in the backyard here on Stauffer Avenue . . . I mean “range fed.” We would have gotten top price.
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Noreen
No one enjoys a phone call that alerted me that I needed to make an appointment with my doctor. Well, the deal is that after one year of not seeing my doctor, I could no longer get a refill order for my blood pressure meds. My, how time flies. Just a note: the refill for this last month was $1.00. Once I was there, he also wanted to do a blood draw. Good thing I had not had anything to eat as yet today.
I just logged onto the email notification from Dr. Eatwell with the results. All and I do mean ALL levels are in the beyond acceptable ranges. I was concerned about such things as good Cholesterol and bad Cholesterol and the God awful results of the Triglyceride level. Daily eating habits cannot hide from blood draws. Let’s hear it for keeping the frying pans on the wall hooks. I have agreed to taking a statin in regard to the good Cholesterol level and bringing it down even farther. With Dad and Elvera both dying from heart related instances, I respect the doctor’s advice.
I wasn’t really happy to hear it has been five years since my last colonoscopy. I am scheduled for one in May. Dr. Eatwell was not concerned that I may be talking to myself more this year than last. I don’t take my health and mobility for granted. I like it and I like it a lot. My it be another year’s absence at the medical clinic that brings about a request of “show up or no meds” type of thing.
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Noreen
The forecast of snow was right on. In between six and seven inches. Before next-door-Randy had left for work, he had taken several swaths down our driveway as well as his own. It had started snowing about seven last night, slow and steady right through this noon.
About noon it looked like it was about to quit snowing and that is when the older ones on Stauffer got geared up. Dennis takes it slow and steady with quite a few breaks in the porch. Our driveway is 90′ of concrete. I can only imagine how hard it would be using a small snowblower on a gravel driveway with rocks flying God knows where. The pickup garage opens to Stauffer Avenue and the city fellows are very kind and make sure their blade is facing onto the opposite side when they plow through. That side of Stauffer is a lawn, so “no fowl” in regard to blocking someone else’s driveway. I do my duty on the end of a shovel clearing out the patio on the front of the house and anywhere else where a snowblower can’t do justice.
Dennis and I have had a great workout and have enjoyed some down time since coming in. Supper: pancakes and bacon with strawberries that Dennis has had marinating since this forenoon. Dennis is thinking the berries as a side dish, I am thinking of them on top of the pancakes. I repeat: We had just the best workout ever!