Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 4:55 pm on January 11, 2018 Permalink  

  I have mentioned at times about enjoying the swaying of Evergreen boughs. When I dared to slowly open my eyes this morning, those same boughs were not swaying . . . they were in full blown flight. The wind chimes in that same tree were bleating out “When the Saints Come Marching In.” It dawned on me that we may be having a blizzard. When I did get out of bed, I could not believe that we had no snow falling, nor had we had any snow fall during the night. The concrete drive was as bare as a babies butt.

  It takes me awhile in the mornings to take in the new day . . . why rush. Dennis was already in the patio porch. The stove pipe coming out of the north wall of the garage was putting out puffs of white wisps assuring me he and the cats were comfortable. Our thermostat is set at about 60 degrees over the night hours and that allows for both of us to snuggle in and sleep deeply. I pushed the button on the wall to a better temperature and found my slippers.

  As I was going to pour a cup of coffee my eyes caught the calendar on the wall and acknowledged it was January 11th . . . the day the Epileptic clothing drive was taking place. I put the empty coffee cup down. Dressed in my pink fuzzy bathrobe and white fuzzy slippers, I picked up the prepared bag off of the kitchen floor and beat feet down that bare concrete drive and plunked the bag on the curb complete with the required tag for the curb side pickup. On the way to the back door of our house . . . it hit me. It was dang cold and the wind that was whipping the Evergreen boughs was doing a dandy job on me. That was a fairly long 90′ walk. My first cup of coffee for the day never tasted so good. A bit later when I put on the morning news, I learned that we were at sub zero weather. Hmm. It’s o.k., I got the important task done and I could take my time drinking coffee before getting dressed for the day. As I said, why rush.

   
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  Noreen 4:20 pm on January 10, 2018 Permalink  

  A Piece Here and Piece There 

  

  It’s time to use up what there is in the batting stashes. There are different weights to be matched for success. I have some adhesive tape made for just such a project. I am thinking of working through all of it as long as it’s out of the bin so the next time it won’t be so overwhelming. It is a very economical way to work through smaller projects. Large quilts brought these scraps on and the smaller projects will finish them up.

   
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  Noreen 5:28 pm on January 9, 2018 Permalink  

  Lots of quiet time as I take one piece of fabric at a time to work towards a completion. Lots of time to do some reminiscing and pondering.

  I know for certain I will never ever tire of the feeling of being a mother. A lifetime . . . but never feeling like a job . . . rather a blessing.

  I know for certain the only way to continue enjoying my life is to put things back where they belong once I have used them. That being said . . . I know I most likely carried my rotary fabric cutter with me somewhere. Thank you Lord for giving me a small home in which to hunt. Dennis checked the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and I went through the multiple of waste paper baskets before they went out this morning. Hmm.

  I know for certain that understanding and patience goes hand in hand as Dennis and I take each day as it comes together as one. Each of us bending to the other, much like the Evergreen boughs that I never tire of watching during the winter. Life is sweet.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on January 8, 2018 Permalink  

  It smelled like spring outside today. It felt like spring. We ran away to Mankato. I had not been farther than our Shopko Pharmacy since Christmas for some meds for Dennis. It was a fantastic road date. The first thing we did was check in at Great Clips to see when we could turn ourselves in for haircuts. We had not had haircuts since the week before Thanksgiving and we were both on the fuzzy side.

  As we had an hour a half before being back at Great Clips, we headed to Hy-Vee with a grocery list. The store on the hill in Mankato is a treasure trove of goodies and variety. Dennis was in charge of “people watching” in his little red pickup in the parking lot. He never tires of that.

  We pulled into our driveway by four in the afternoon and were very content. Of course stopping at Perkins for a “meal of the day” didn’t hurt. By the way . . . if we stop at Perkins, that means that this gal is not making anything for supper. Everyone is on their own. It seems to work well.

  Two more nice days and then we will see what winter has left to surprise us with. I will be A.O.K. as Dennis put the handle back on my plastic snow pusher. I am quite sure I will be needing it by Friday.

   
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  Noreen 4:27 pm on January 7, 2018 Permalink  

  Buttons 

  

  The button tree really got shook for this project. I am pleased with the placement of the buttons as they were held in place with a bit of glue so I could get them under the sewing machine. I don’t as yet have the perfect answer for hanging them for the best show. This 12 Days was embroidered on gray fabric. The one previous was done on white. I have two more options to try out to see what Dennis thinks is “Best of Show” in regard to color combinations. Measured once, measured twice but the next one will need more work in the embroidery at the top. The “s” comparison in the banner measured out 1/8 difference. Bummer!! There is always a challenge and that is what makes life and projects worth while doing.

   
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  Noreen 6:42 pm on January 6, 2018 Permalink  

  It seems the little dash to the left of the temperature reading is becoming a normal. I am still holding onto keeping March in the near future. The minus temps don’t define me. I know it comes every year about this time and I know it does not stay.

  Working on sewing buttons onto a project is always a challenge for me. I need to back up on that comment. Sewing them on is easy with my Sears Kenmore sewing machine, sewing multiple of them on in a straight line . . . now that is something else. I thought about it for some time. I found myself in the storage closet of the basement. Never did I think I would reach for a glue bottle with my stitching. It was a water based glue but fast drying. I put the project on the ironing board where I could measure once, measure twice and then put barely a dab of glue on with a toothpick where the button would go. Of the 57 buttons, I tried it out on five buttons.

  Waiting for the glue to dry had me doing laps around the two church tables. Low and behold it has shown me it will work for the entire amount of buttons. Putting on a dozen or so of buttons is going to be the limit as I don’t know how much shuffling of a quilted project they can take before falling off. I have my work cut out for me tomorrow. Nothing is as satisfying as working the gray matter between the ears when you can’t change the cold winter.

   
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  Noreen 5:05 pm on January 5, 2018 Permalink  

  New Kitchen Gadget 

  

  This Kraut jar had to give it up. Try hard as he could Dennis couldn’t get the jar lid to budge. Out to the garage and in he came with our newest addition to the kitchen gadgets. Dennis tightened the Quick Grip to the lid and it popped and released the vacuum seal. Good going Dennis. The rest of the kitchen prep is on me.

   
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  Noreen 3:40 pm on January 4, 2018 Permalink  

  A Snow Pushing Day 

  Flurries are in the air and it gives pause to pushing some snow as getting fresh air and some exercise.  Our winter seems to be snits and starts on snowfalls.  Nothing heavy.  Compared to the east coast, I’ll take this every time.

  My experiment wall hanging is complete.  Am I totally satisfied?  Of course not.  I have yet to meet or visit with a quilter who they feel their faux pas are not glaring.  At least the prom dress fabric is out of the stash designation.  The brass washers and beads are acceptable as buttons.  I do have a hanger on the back of it.  I do need to find a better way to hang my finished wall hangings when I do the photo op.  Oh for the challenges of domestic crafters.  If all were perfect, there would no doubt be a label indicating it had been mass produced in China.  My projects give me joy in experimenting as to what I can do and how I can do it perhaps differently.  Yes, also with a bit more articulation.  My children know that some of my “end results” may beg the question as to whether I had both eyes open or not (smerk). Using the stitch design one by one also worked well for binding the design block to the batting and backing.  

  All in all this will be ready to share next Christmas.  I did do these embroidered designs of the “12 Days of Christmas” on several other types and colors of fabrics.  Hopefully, I will gain insight on techniques that will better serve the end result.

  It’s time to use that snow pusher and clear the driveway before chicken tittes are fixed for supper with a side of green beans.  Sounds good to me.

   
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  Noreen 5:12 pm on January 3, 2018 Permalink  

  I did get a walk in this morning. While at it I had my snow pusher out ahead taking out the snow we had over the night. Walking the 90′ of the driveway back and forth several times isn’t the ultimate. but it feels good to get fresh air. Soon I will be able to stretch my legs a bit farther and not worry about frost bite. We need to be careful for what we wish for. Taking it one day at a time and being thankful for it works for me. What do people in Minnesota think! It’s winter, get over it.

   
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  Noreen 4:54 pm on January 2, 2018 Permalink  

  Day Two of 2018 

  Yesterday I began peeking in closets and storage areas.  This Friday our recycling bin will be filled and awaiting the truck.  Not so much that I pitched items, it was all about getting rid of cardboard that may have held groceries that we had bought in case lots from Sam’s Club.  Some items from our bedroom closet needed to be taken downstairs and put in storage totes that were less than full.  On day two of 2018 there are empty spots in our bedroom closet and I see bare shelving in our storage area in the basement.  It’s a good thing.  

  In between time I was thinking through a project that I have started.  This is a project that I experimented with fabric that had been left over from a prom dress in times past.  Not enough gold buttons on the button tree to get the job done, I used brass washers and beads to make my own buttons.  Today as I was organizing storage areas, I hit on an idea with which to quilt within the nine inch squares of the project.

  There are so many options with fancy running stitches on the sewing machine.  Why use the running option of a stitch but rather start and stop the stitch and let it look like snowflakes!  Time out to turn on the sewing machine and seek and search options.  I have a “what if” cloth that I have used often to try out stitches or patterns.  Sure enough.  Taking the time to start and stop and figure out when to start and stop, I could use this stitch to quilt the nine inch block rather than using meandering or hand quilting.  A step up from using embroidery floss to tie a quilting project.  Tomorrow I will choose a light blue thread and see how many snowflakes it will take to do the quilting to hold the block in place with the batting and backing as often times, if laundered, you don’t want to take a chance of anything shifting.  Stay tuned on how it all shakes out.  It was a very good day even if it was too cold to run any errands.  I left that to the ole cowboy and his little red pickup.