A day of feeling very fortunate to have missed rain and thunderstorms. There seems to be an abundant of bad weather and fires throughout the United States. Yup, we think God is very upset with us. Too much of the “Old Adam” has run its course. On a lighter note, I corralled all the wisps of threads that were running rampant off of their spools. I cannot believe I did not know the trick that was built into each spool.
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Noreen
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Noreen
Road Trip Lessons
The only fault I had with my embroidery materials, was that the thread was very hard to control as it is slippery,
Ask and learn. Today at the Bernina shop I mentioned the mess of my threads. Hmm. The inside of the bottom of the spool needs to be pushed up and it telescopes allowing the thread to be guided into a trough. Push the telescope in and it clicks with the thread very well tended. I will have a bit of time in my sewing studio over the next days as I tidy up my threads. That alone was worth the road trip. Oh, this Grammie has a lot to learn. Just to be clear . . . there was no hint of this little tip on the spool.
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Noreen
Full Potential
I have been watching this stalk of Hollyhock for some time. Now this is the ultimate in being at its full potential. The plume grass that is just setting its plume in the forefront of this photo is five feet tall. This marvelous white Hollyhock has given me pause as it was determined to stretch far and beyond. Just the sheer weight of the stalk defies its ability to stand so straight and tall given all the winds and rains that we have had. What is “My” full potential at any given time? Do I really stretch myself to the max? This is the very last bloom on this Hollyhock stalk. I think I have quite a ways to go before I can claim my “full potential.” So . . . I tell myself to stand up straight and tall and take what each day brings so my bloom will remain at its best.
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Noreen
Sometimes in your own home and and your own property . . . you need to hide. The neighbors to the south of us arrived home from their trip and right behind them arrived an adult son that had moved out several years ago due to difference of opinions with his dad. I cannot believe the son will be a full timer, or how we hope. This fellow had a way of wandering over when Dennis was in his beloved porch, and then would forget to go home. Dennis’ porch is “Holy Hour” 24/7. I know Dennis and I are so spoiled with our home, our space. I do feel for Dennis as he has been treading lightly. Can’t you just envision him? Cracking open the back door of the house and taking a peek to see if it’s all clear and then scampering quickly to the service door of the garage to get into his porch, unseen. Dennis may be experiencing cabin fever in the middle of August.
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Noreen
This was a day to “try this” or “how about that?” working towards using odds and ends in my sewing studio. It has been oh so long since I have worked with a piece of fabric that is larger than a six nine patch or a three inch strip. If I were not such a frugal person, the dumpster would have been visited. I just don’t have it in me. No, I do not squeak when I walk.
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Noreen
Just to Reach Out —
Just to reach out and touch someone is all that Tabatha, the old wild cat, needs nowadays. For a short time each morning this cat pays homage as she sits on Dennis’ leg. For years there was no getting near her as she patiently waited for some food and water to be set out. In January of this year, she bit the bullet and it must have been hard on her ego to follow the food bowl into the porch, where she now comes and goes from. Just like all of us . . . it is humbling when we have to come to grips with what is the “real deal.” God does sends us messages. We need to be open to receive them.
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Noreen
Lofty Aspirations
Just as our cat, Snuggles, I am always into lofty aspirations. There doesn’t seem to be much that Snuggles won’t try. In this particular photo that I took this morning, Snuggles had sized up the shingled hip roof of our potting shed east of our garage. Once the potting shed had been conquered, the rest of the story was a no brainer. There is not much that I will not try to conquer within our home. I want the end result to be “choice.” I may not share how I got the project done, but from the outside looking in, all anyone will observe is normalcy. Once Snuggles and I give up on our lofty aspirations, the world as we know it, will no longer spin on its axle quite the same. Hmm. There may be some that will take note. In the mean time; in between time, Snuggles and I plan and anticipate ever stretching ourselves to new heights.
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Noreen
Today is day “13” of us checking on our neighbor’s cat. The meowing starts as soon as he hears the back door open. He is so over having the house to himself. As always, his crunchy toy is in the empty food bowl. It has gotten to be a “hide and seek” between the two of us.
I am doing quite well on very little sleep from last night. At 2:30 in the morning there was a clap of thunder that could have raised the dead. Lightening and thunder continued as sheets of rain made looking out the window much like a snow storm. I did check the radar on my laptop and knew when it sounded like the rain was over . . . there was more coming. I just had a hard time settling in for more of the must needed sleep. Five to six inches this time of the year is rare. I am not complaining as we have not had a single bad wind storm with all the rain that we have had. The best part is, our raised wooden porch floor has stayed dry. I will admit when I took my coffee out to the porch this morning, I was dreading that first step onto the carpeted floor. Silly ole me.
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Noreen
Never Give It Up
Yesterday I was in a quandary about being short a bit of binding for a quilt project that is very close to being finished up. I
stayed down in the sewing room and began the hunting. It may sound silly to be in a snit about several inches of fabric, but could a carpenter hand over the keys to a new homeowner without putting a door knob on the new door? I played with several choices and even decided to use my little tool that checks for color values. I could almost bet you one hundred to one that the few inches of a different colored binding – which is about one half inch visible from both the top view and also the bottom view – very few people would detect. But, I’d know it was there!
Christ and Laura Wendlandt’s family. Left to right: Kennith, Janet, Lester, Corrine, Raymond, Esther, Lenard, Jerald, Maynard.
So now that that issue has been put to rest, it’s on to the next item for me to poodle through my mental abilities. I am involved in a family gathering in September. I know many attendees will not readily recognize cousins, aunts and uncles and who belongs to who. There will be a solution forthcoming from my gray matter before too much time has passed. In thinking, there were nine children of Christ and Laura. Each one of my cousins, including me, can identify all nine of them in a photo. If . . . there were multiple photos of each of the nine at the sign-in table, for families to pick out their family member and pin it on themselves, it would be easy to track the lineage. Hmmm. It might be just a bit too hot today to get this nailed down. I have a few other items on the back burners for this day in September. I am taking it slow and easy, and of course, lists are growing. As I said earlier, never give it up. Slow and steady wins every time.
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Noreen
Charlie Brown is Quoted
To quote Charlie Brown, “I cannot believe it!” January of 2016, I tried all manor of my new Bernina Sewing Machine. I had all the materials for this queen sized quilt top in my stashes. Today, I was going to finish up the preparations to take this project to the Old Alley Quilt Shop in Sherburn for machine quilting and I would then have the binding set to go after Sharon has it quilted. I had set aside the remainder of the last boarder for the binding. “I cannot believe it!” I am ten inches short of fabric for what is needed to do the perimeter of this quilt’s binding. “Good grief!” You can bet your sweet biffie, I will be down in the sewing studio until I find a resolution. That is so “me.” Reminiscence of measure twice, cut once and it’s still too short.
