Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 1:38 pm on August 15, 2021 Permalink  

  A Special Bunch 

  Last night at the Korean veteran’s lunch, it brings to mind what a special group pf people they are.  Their meeting prior to the banquet follows Robert’s Rules of Order to a T.  All are in their 80s and still a very proud group.  It was an honor to attend.

  Dennis and I had done some errands before the banquet.  We had great success at Menards.  The part we were seeking has been ordered and we will be getting an email when it comes in.  No dinking around trying on our part when a helpful employee can get right to the vendor.

  The patio sitting this morning was great.  The grass and perennials do look sad.  There is and has not been any point in trying to make up for the lack of rain.  Tough it out for the remainder of the year and see what 2022 brings.

  I spend an hour at a time in the studio.  Anything beyond can bring frustration and weariness of the left arm and hand.  As I am getting better, I don’t want to overdue it and become bitter.  That would be an insult to the strides I have made.  Time is on my side and believe me, I have plenty of it.  Almost as much as I have plans.

  I have a book that takes up some of my day.  Diversity makes the days so smoothly.

   
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  Noreen 9:36 am on August 14, 2021 Permalink  

  A Day Out 

  This evening we are attending a banquet in Mankato with Dennis’ group of Korean veterans.  They hadn’t met for a long time due to the covid.  When Dennis went to the meeting in the first part of August, he remarked that there were less participating and some were struggling with health issues.  What I find remarkable is that there are several women that are present as they were nurses during the Korean War, though labeled as a police action.

  We are heading out to Mankato at noon as we have some additional stops to make.  Dennis’ lawn sweeper does a great job.  The brushes are nylon.  The suggestion was to order an extra pair as the nylon would wear as they are to be set at ground level.  There were two phone numbers in the instruction manual.  I am not the best with using my Tracfone in regard to punching the accurate number.  The first time I got a business that wanted to sell me medical supplies.  I tried again, the same results.  Hmm. I tried the second number and they were a business dealing with foreclosures and evictions.  Hmm.  Try, try.  I finally went online and got to speak to a real person.  She was not surprised as she said they frequently get calls in regard to garden appliances.  

  Today we will be making inquires at Menards service center for the rest of the story as to how to interact with this company that they sell products from.  It will be interesting.

  On a side note.  Today, for the first time since February’s stroke, the index finger on my left hand had enough strength to push down the soft button on my deodorant container.  Sweet.  All the physical therapy that I do each day in my home is working.  Getting back to the sewing studio needs the cooperation of that left hand and it’s a good thing it is showing a want to take part.

  Have a great weekend everybody!

   
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  Noreen 1:36 pm on August 13, 2021 Permalink  

  Windows were Opened 

  For a time this morning I had the east and west windows open before the traffic of 18 wheelers was heavy.  Though we have a concrete street running in front of our home, with no rain for a long time to rinse it off it makes its own dust.

  The same thing happens in the studio.  The concrete floor is ever flicking off tiny particles to make dust and keep me on my toes with the vacuum.  I have one piece of jute carpeting in front of the ironing board.  Would I want carpeting over the remainder of the studio?  No.  Threads can intertwine with carpet fibers as if that is how they came from the factory.  Dropped pins are the same way.  I have a great magnet that Dennis gave me.  Nothing like a magnet on a stick!

  I took my walk this morning to the north.  There has been so much commotion of the rebuilding of the street in that direction, I needed a looksee for myself.  Not to worry.  The old lady with the cane stayed far back.

  There isn’t a lot going on at Stauffer Avenue.  I can work my whiles in the studio and make slow progress on a quilt project.  I can get into mischief with my computer.  That being said, all is right with the world.

   
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  Noreen 2:43 pm on August 12, 2021 Permalink  

  DIY on Stauffer 

  Off of the top of my head yesterday I wished out loud for handier fabric storage.  I said an auto creeper would be just the ticket to slide under the tables with totes sitting on it . . . in and out as needed.  Sliding totes under my two church tables that I have sitting side by side can feel like a hard stretch and pull.  I went about my sewing.

  Later in the day, Dennis came down for a bottle of cold water and I noticed beads of sweat on his brow.  “Are you doing ok?”  Come to find out he had been out to Fleet, been in the potting shed, and had had the garden hose running.  That fellow can slip out of his patio porch faster than snuggles can catch a squirrel.  Now the rest of the story dribbled out.  

  He had a 26″ x 52″ half inch of clean plywood that we had used when we painted the basement stairwell.  As our scaffolding days are over it was going to be repurposed.  Today, he was ready for the rest of the story.  Now . . . what did I have to cover it?  Many years ago when Dennis was running up and down the highways with his 18 wheeler, we had had room darkening shades as he had slept at odd hours.  When the rollers gave out, I saved the heavy vinyl.  Perfect cover for the plywood using our stapler.  As I couldn’t get the stapler to work, not enough oomph, I went in the house.  

  Soon I got a phone call . . . from the patio porch.  I was needed.  I couldn’t believe what I saw.  I had a fabric creeper complete with rope pulls from either side.  Talk about a DIY.  The rollers were heavy duty as they had come off of the bottom of my Huskie sewing machine table when we had realized the rollers made the table too high.  When and if that table will be moved out of the studio, not for a very long time, the fabric creeper will no longer need to be in service and the rollers can go back onto the table.

  Leave it to the two of us, the fabric creeper got down into the studio.  We both just sat and marveled.  For the price of a drill bit and some nuts for the rollers to be made secure a $10.00 bill made a wish come true.  Gotta love the ole cowboy for listening and then doing.  Tomorrow will be arranging of stashes and supplies. Come on, what quilter wouldn’t want their stashes available with a mere tug of a rope.

  My next item for the day is fixing some chicken titties for Dennis for supper.  It’s a mild day outside and I don’t mind cranking up the kitchen stove top for a hearty meal that is one of Dennis’ favorite.

  It isn’t what you have in your life . . . but who.

   
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  Noreen 3:06 pm on August 11, 2021 Permalink  

  We Are On It 

  Dennis has been on target today.  Yesterday I threw out a thought or two for a storage idea for my stash of fabrics.  Today he made a trip to the Fleet and Farm store.  There will be one more step to complete tomorrow.  Time will tell.

  After a very busy day yesterday, I took time to sit in the west house porch and do a bit of traffic watching.  The back can buck . . . so why not play to it until it feels like cooperating.

  The internet is a wealth of knowledge when I seem to be short of it.  Some of the fabric I was given yesterday was a poly/cotton.  I needed more information going forward to make use of it.  It is durable, can be somewhat more so than 100% cotton.  Poly/cotton does not shrink . . . also good to know.  In quilting with it, do not mix with any other type of fabric or blend of fabric.  Also good to know.   I am not a fabric snob in thinking that only one designer or widely known designers and their collections of fabrics need to be purchased and thus used.  Paying $10.98 and up to 12.98 per yard need not be the norm.

  I come from a time when the back of shirts and blouses were saved as options for use in quilting.  Printed chicken feed sacks were used.  What amazes me is that quilts using fabrics such as these had stood the test of times.  I have quilts that my grandmother and mother made using fabric that was purchased in a Ben Franklin store.  They have been used and abused and made it through laundering only getting softer each time.  

  My mom, Lena, had a favorite quilt pattern, Trip Around the World.  I dug out my pattern of it today . . . as I can’t stay out of the studio for an entire day.  My wheels are spinning.  I can envision a sweet quilt top coming forth and I have just the sewing machine to quilt them.

  If I manage a quilt or two from this newly acquired stash, I know I will find homes for them.  In the mean time, I will be keeping an ear out if there is someone to share this fabric with.  The more stitches, the merrier.

   
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  Noreen 1:40 pm on August 10, 2021 Permalink  

  Perfect Timing 

  Yesterday’s tidying the studio was perfect timing.  Today I went to Fairfax.  Kevin’s Garage was as if there had been some tidying going on their as well.  It’s difficult when the seller has lived his whole life dragging his feet and now it was time for the bear to do it in the buckwheat . . . and clear out the old for the new owner.  Hat’s off Kevin and Kersten.

  I popped in on Kersten at Casey’s.  Just as I was leaving the parking lot was filling in for some lunch fare.  Busy, busy.

  Dennis and I processed some sweet corn this afternoon that Kevin had sent home.  There will be good digs in the freezer this winter.

  I had wanted to take care of some fabric I acquired this afternoon, but the corn came first.  I have a hard time turning down fabric that is new and waiting to be made into something that can bring warmth to family or a donation.  The honey pot of this gift was the 100% flannel.  I prefer backing quilts with flannel.  Sister-in-law Jo taught me that trick.  The quilt doesn’t shift and slide off of the bed with flannel like it does with woven cotton. Dennis is going to help me find a spot in the studio for it.  Dennis is a pushover to help when there is one of his favorite supper dishes coming.  He definitely knows where his bread, spread with apricot jam, is buttered.

  The air is sultry outside and it will take some time for the kitchen to cool off from blanching corn.  It is small potatoes compared to all the canning I have under my belt from decades past.  If there was an empty fruit jar, we were not done processing anything from pickles to every type of small vegetable that grew in our huge garden.  After the potatoes were dug, even the tiny ones found themselves in a jar.  They were perfect for a quick slice as fried potatoes.  

  That era of my life was the best ever.  A farm wife that could milk a cow, clean a manure gutter, throw silage from the top rung and butcher a chicken in five minute flat.  And . . . I had a sewing studio in those days as well.  There is so much to enjoy in those memories.

   
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  Noreen 1:50 pm on August 9, 2021 Permalink  

  Good Intentions 

  Headed into the studio with good intentions of working with the sashing. the strips of fabric in between quilt blocks, of a quilt top.  

  I looked at the partially empty carton of bottled water and decided they might as well be put in the refrigerator.  Out to the garbage can with the carton.  What once had been a huge cardboard box was now a flattened piece of carboard. It went out to the recycling bin.  Thus it went . . . from one small item of organization to another.  I had not seen anything that was out of place for . . . months.  It was as if someone had given me a clean pair of eye glasses today.

  At about twelve noon, I found my way to the church tables and a length of fabric.  After cutting three lengths of 3.5 wide sashing . . . I realized that was enough for now.  Pressing down on the rotary cutter for the 27″ long cut did not sit well with my sternum that is working overtime to knit itself back together.  I did piece, pin and sew in place what I had cut and then went back to some cleaning in the studio.

  I have burned up most of the afternoon by piddling.  The last endeavor was taking the sewing machine down to its interior to allow for a good cleaning, oiling and putting in a new needle.  I will be ready when the lights come on the next time.  

  Dennis just came home from the commercial laundry up town.  The huge double layer knotted polar fleece blanket of his needed freshening up.  I know putting that in our domestic washer would have been asking for trouble.  We may have had a lot of ninety degree days, but when Dennis naps in his recliner, yup, the polar fleeces with all the hand tied knots is pulled into service.

  So has this day gone by.  Nothing urgent got done but . . . enough in my studio that I do feel good for having traded a day of my life for a studio that got tided and organized, that will greet me another day.  The “another day” always spurs enthusiasm when all is in its place and I can pick up right where I need to be in a project.  Sweet.  Good intentions . . . don’t talk about it . . . be about it.

   
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  Noreen 1:35 pm on August 8, 2021 Permalink  

  Small Amount of Rain 

  A small amount of rain is better than nothing . . . but not by much.  It may have dusted off the leaves.

  Today was play day for me.  Dennis napped and in the quiet of the day, I was in the studio.  This is August!  The 2021-2022 school year is in the near future.  This will be Megan’s senior year! I have been working on a quilt for her for a long time.

  In the fall of 2020, I was planning and scheming with only a small start with the embroidery.  I had chosen the collection of “Words of Wisdom.”  Each block with a colorful design and a tidbit of wisdom would be the body of the quilt.  I had been listening as to what was Megan’s favorite color for the moment.  That may very well change over time.  Not a huge concern.

  Today was the day to get them all trimmed to 7″x 9″ for the process to continue.  This is not going to be a huge quilt, though at this time, I, myself, do not have any final dimensions.  The width of fabric that I put the blocks together with and the width of the borders on all four sides of the project will tell the rest of the story.  I wanted something that could be rolled up, balled up and head out to college with her.  College . . . slow down the clock.

  I didn’t stick with the studio nonstop.  I took breaks with cold coffee and a book at the dining room table.  Taking breaks is the key to any success I hope to achieve.

  The new week brings with it . . . no appointments.  Rare indeed.  It may allow me to take a short trip out of town on my own.  I do have choices.  To the south is the Old Alley Quilt Shop to check out fabrics.  To the North is a trip to Kevin’s Garage, where there is already fabric waiting for me to take home.  Time will tell.

  The rain showers are over with.  Not nearly enough.  Take it the way it falls.

   
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  Noreen 4:24 pm on August 7, 2021 Permalink  

  “Uncle” 

  It is Five on a Saturday and I am saying “uncle.”  The Riebe cousins, second and third cousins, had a great day in the village of Darwin.

  My mother was one of eight children.  Seven of those families were represented there today.  My uncle Bill’s daughter, Arlene, has passed away.  There was enough food for an army.  I don’t think an army would have been nearly as noisy.  Laughter amid a lot of talk . . . can’t beat it.

  On the way home we could have dropped in to see family.  Sorry Kevin, I was too weary to have fully enjoyed a visit with you and Kersten.  We left home at nine this morning and five o’clock on the nose this afternoon we were home.  I believe this was the longest outing for me this calendar year.  It was priceless.  The picnic shelter had a mild breeze blowing through all day.  The soft seats of the car on the ride home felt wonderful.  

  As we drove the two hour drive, it was interesting to see where there were rain puddles.  In relationship to the miles, the puddles were few and far in between.  We have had showers on two occasions that didn’t even register in the gauge.

  It’s time for me to settle in for the night.  There will be so many different conversations going through my mind.  Dennis would mingle with others different than I did today and it was fun to compare notes as we drove home.  

  All that I have left to say is “uncle.”

   
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  Noreen 2:47 pm on August 6, 2021 Permalink  

  Friday With Saturday’s Chores 

  Tomorrow we are going to a family gathering from my mom’s side of the family.  There were eight siblings.  I have many Riebe cousins.  Many of them stayed in the Litchfield area.  We are getting together in Darwin at the city park, we try to do it once a year.  It has been a year that I am sure has brought many changes to many.

  Tomorrow would have been bedding laundry day.  We had that whipped out today, Friday, by twelve noon.  Chased a few dust bunnies as well.  Nothing worse than coming home from a day of play to feel behind the eight ball of what is waiting to be done.

  A dish to pass was all that was requested for tomorrow.  After kicking that around for several days, I decided on cooked rice done with milk and sugar.  Everyone from this group grew up on it.  When cooled, a sprinkle of cinnamon tops it.  

  I dug out the double boiler kettle.  I didn’t have the whole milk that works the best, so I opened a can of Carnation milk.  I knew I could add 2% to it and have it turn out great.  I had forgotten how long it takes when you use one and a half cups of rice.  The long grain rice takes a long slow time.  We are now coming to the two and a half hours and it has been put into a bowl for cooling.  We are two hours away from the gathering and it will travel well.  This will be a long day for me, but I sure am looking forward to getting out of Dodge.  I will rest up later.

  When I have been really hungry for the rice pudding, I have bought a small container in the grocery store deli department.  Silly me.  It’s watery and an insult to the rice pudding.

  The worst part of preparing this dish is the cleanup of the top portion of the double boiler.  It does help to put some water into the top and allow the bottom to continue boiling.  The steam process does help.

  I couldn’t leave the kitchen for fear I would forget to add milk to the rice.  I boiled some egg noodles, chopped up an onion and browned a pound of ground beef.  I had bought some of the Better Than Bullion in the grocery store.  It comes in a small jar and has a jelly type consistency.  It needs to be refrigerated after opening.  I had either the roasted onion or the roasted garlic.  I used two tablespoons of the garlic and stirred that into the hot meat mixture.  Aroma . . . spot on.  I then called upon Dennis as to how to top it off.  His decision was the white Alfredo sauce.  We are now having a dish reminiscent to Beed Stroganoff.  No veggies this time.  Supper has been planned and only needs oven time.

  I know after supper and I have showered for the day . . . I will be off the clock.  

  In regard to the studio:  my household chores come first in any day.  If I have gotten done what the home requires, that is when I take the steps to the studio.  In time, the first floor items will be accomplished in less time as my stamina improves and then . . . watch out!