September 2008 Archives

Binding is the fabric added to the edges of a quilted item that encloses the outer unfinished edges. Often, it is a strip of fabric that has been folded in half length-wise with wrong sides together, which is then sewed to the top of the quilt using a sewing machine. The final step is to pull the binding from the front to the back and hand sew the folded edge of the binding to the back of the quilt, using small, invisible stitches. There are a number of other ways to bind a quilt, but the majority of quilts use this technique.

I have been living in a sea of quilted items that have been waiting for bindings to be finished. I finally decided that I would get more done if I simply sat down and began to work.

Yesterday, I trimmed three lap quilts, made binding for two of them, and sewed binding to those two lap quilts and one full sized quilt. I also added binding to two sides of a lap quilt that was done for the Empty Nester group. I have one more full-sized quilt, a table runner, and one lap quilt to finish. That doesn't address all the unfinished projects, just those that are close to completion. My purpose in the marathon sewing session was to give myself things to work on at night, when I'd like to sit with Dear Husband and watch some of the new shows on T.V.

That was six hours of work, but already I can see a dent in the work that needs to be done to take my home into the winter. I need to reorganize the sewing area, and our closet, and get serious about what needs to be stored in our living space, and what might be stored in the basement, or (shudder) thrown away. I NEED to see some projects brought to an end before I start some new ones. I need to know that I can carry a project through to completion. I should note, that the lap quilts are all projects that Elegante Mother started this year for her great-grandchildren, which she has been unable to finish. I simply see them as projects to be completed, not hers or mine.

So, If you're looking for me in the evening for the next couple of weeks, I'll be the one under a mound of quilts! *G*

Do you do crossword puzzles? I used to do them all the time, and then I slowly set them aside when I became addicted to quilting. I resumed doing the puzzle in the Chicago Tribune earlier this year, on-line. There are times when I have a few extra minutes, and I pick up a book of New York Times puzzles and try to wade through one.

Why is it that the first time you work a tough puzzle, you can stare at the blanks and not get a thing, and when you walk away in frustration and come back later, answers fall into place with ease?? I frequently feel that "Duh!" response, when the answers are obvious and generally easy. Is it just that I'm working against myself, expecting the answers to be a lot harder?

I'm VERY glad that I took Latin. It amazes me how many times an answer to a clue will be a Latin word. Many times, I can guess the answer to a Spanish, or Italian word because it's related to Latin.

It's odd, but I find that the vertical clues are easier. You'd think that seeing the boxes in a pattern other than our usual left to right, would make it more difficult. I tend to fly through the puzzle starting from the upper left (Northwest) corner, and answer as many of the horizontal clues as I can. Then I make a run through the vertical clues. More than half of the answers will fall into place on the vertical clues. The hardest clues for me are those that pertain to the young stars who are likely to be found on the pages of "People" magazine. I admit it.....I'm an old fogy.

Years ago, the editors of the puzzles provided information concerning how many words made up the answer. Now, they limit their advice to "var." (variation) or different ways of indicating that the answer is an abbreviation.

Today, one of the answers was "music." In another life, I was a band director, so you might expect me to find all the music clues easy. WRONG!! I over-think the clues, and they are often the last clues I answer. I dread having someone assume that I will get all the music questions. In fact, I can usually guarantee that I'll miss anything that took place between 1975 and 1990, and a lot of the more recent stuff, too. I've got COOKING terms down, though! lol

Fall does that. It brings out my interest in cooking. We are not big on grilling. It seems that we have not taken the time to get to the point where we have enough knowledge about grills to have them be user friendly. So, I'm always ready to leave the era of salads and hamburgers and get back to REAL FOOD! lol

Last night I made an Italian Sausage and Orzo soup that was to die for! You cook the sausage, crumbling it up into half-inch or smaller pieces. Remove the sausage from the pan and wilt carrots, onions, garlic, and celery, adding a tablespoon of olive oil if necessary. Add 28 ounces of diced tomatoes, six cups of low-sodium chicken broth and a quarter cup of fresh chopped Italian flat-leafed parsley, and simmer. At this point your kitchen should smell fabulous!

I went out to harvest basil and parsley from my herb garden for this soup, which may be part of the reason I enjoyed it so much. You add the sausage back into the broth, and season to taste with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. While the soup simmers, boil half a cup of orzo in a separate pan.

To serve, we put a little of the orzo into the bottom of a generous soup bowl, and then ladled soup over the orzo. I cut the basil into fine strips and sprinkled it over the soup just before serving. Dear Husband added fresh grated Parmesan and thin slices of three-cheese semolina bread to complete the meal. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, it smelled, and tasted, fantastic!

If my quilting bee wants to do a soup supper this coming February, I think this is one of the soups I'll offer. My soup reputation will spread far and wide! *G*

How often do you say "Thank you"? How often do you hear someone say "Thank you" to you?

I don't think I say "Thank you" enough. I certainly think it. I'm behind in my written thank you notes, but I'm getting them done. Still, I think I could take the time to let people know that I really appreciate what they do for me. It bothers me that personal notes are going the way of the dinosaur. My youngest sister writes exceptional notes, and I love to get them from her, but I'm very bad about writing back to her. I send her a lot of e-mails, not just the forwarded type, but also short thoughts and responses to her e-mails, and I talk to her on the phone, but I don't make the time to write personal notes.

I've been pondering this as I reach a point in my life where contact with family and friends is more important. I need to shape up (in more ways than one), get my act together, and take this show on the road. I need to stop saying "I need to..." and "Just DO it!" And I haven't a clue how to make these life changes.

I think I'll start by telling people "Thank you" more often.

For those of you who have come to read this blog, Thanks! It's nice of you to stop by, *S*

"I Like Ike!" was a refrain from the election pitting Dwight D. Eisenhower against Adlai Stevenson in the early 1950's I was a child, but I recall the campaign buttons.

I'm not so sure how I feel about our recent visitor, Ike, the hurricane. The Midwest had an extended line of showers crossing from west to east, and Ike rolled up through Texas, steamrolled over Oklahoma and Kansas and Missouri and attached himself to that line of showers. The forecasters were predicting three inches of rain over a three day period. That's a lot of rain, but manageable. In reality, O'Hare Airport measured 12.61 inches of rain by early evening on Sunday. Parts of Chicago and the surrounding counties have been hit hard, and farmers are saying that the corn and soybean crops may be damaged. We were fortunate. We're high and dry, and still have all our utilities.

I went out Sunday morning to collect the newspapers. We have a fairly long driveway, and it was pouring out, so I took the car. While I was down at the end of the road, I stopped to collect Saturday's mail, too. As our road goes to the east, it passes between two retention ponds, and the road crews had put up barricades to warn drivers of water on the pavement. The ponds were so full that they overflowed their bounds and met on the road. You could get through, if you went very slowly. The barricades were set up so that you had to slalom to the left. and then again to the right. Apparently everyone got the idea that you had to slow down, because there were no cars stranded in the water.

It rained almost non-stop from Friday morning to Sunday evening. It was still sprinkling Monday morning as we went off to exercise, enough to need window wipers, but not enough to keep the standing water from slowing draining off.

The record rain for my area was 17 inches in 24 hours. I can recall pictures of people canoing or rowing from house to house looking for people who needed help. What amazed me was that people would walk in the water without regard to raw sewage or downed electrical lines. What happens to people's brains when we have unusual weather!?? Our underpasses were closed for a couple of weeks with that storm. I think we'll clean things up faster with this one, but it will take a lot of work to bring some areas back to where they were before the storms.

It's a heck of a state of affairs when you have a blog and can't seem to make the time to type entries! This past week we were busy. Wednesday night we took Elegante Mother out to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. She ordered guacamole and wallowed in avocado!

Thursday, EM did hair and nails at the salon, (I worked on thank you notes while I waited for her) and we made a run on her bank and the post office. She treated me to lunch at Panera. She had a Greek salad, and I had the tuna sandwich. That evening, one of my nieces came to sit with Mother and Dear Husband and I went out to dinner. We very rarely go out more than once a week, usually less, so it was quite a treat. We did a run on Chili's, which is close to home, and quick.

Friday, we got off to a late start and missed exercise (bad me, bad me!). I worked in the office and did some laundry, all the things we have to do to keep our lives going. That evening, despite the fact that the rain from Ike was coming down pretty hard and fast, we drove to visit with Dear Husband's daughter and her family, and we ate out, AGAIN! EM and I had the most amazing petite fillets, and DH chose bouillabaisse that looked incredible.

By Saturday morning, the water had begun to rise in the retention ponds, but DH went off to the boat anyway. He is not bothered by the idea of sleeping overnight on a leaking boat. EM and I made it to the Red Hat luncheon for our chapter. A surprising number of women turned out given that the roads were starting to flood, and the rain was coming down HARD! We thought we had it timed to leave when the rain had eased, but by the time we got to the door it had returned with a vengeance. We made it home, safe and sound, but a bit wet. The first order of the afternoon was to change into dry clothes. The second was to take a nap!

That evening I cleaned out the refrigerator to make dinner. Sunday, with the still cool weather in place, chili seemed like a great choice. I'd teased DH that we were going to have it while he was away (It's one of his favorite meals), but I waited to make it on Sunday. I plan to add macaroni to it, and serve Chili-Mac for dinner to polish off the left overs.

So, there you have it....our meal plan and activities rolled up in one! Elegante Mother held up to the demands of all the travel pretty well. She enjoys the scenery, and I think we need to be out and about before snow comes to make us rethink travel. This week should be a little quieter than last, but I hope to plan something different each week, either short trips or different activities. We're blessed that EM is able to get into and out of the car on her own, so that she is able to make these visits.

Hi! I know...I've been away for a bit, but sometimes life has a way of intruding on my blogging. :-( This has been a wonderful, laid-back weekend. Dear Husband went to the boat Saturday morning, and Elegante Mother and I took our time getting ready to face the day. The care giver arrived at 8:00 and we decided to make a trip to the Farmer's Market.

There are several markets near our home. We went to the closest. EM agreed to use her transportation chair, and the care giver took the handles so that EM wouldn't fly downhill. We visited with our favorite knife sharpener, and met his oldest daughter. We shopped through easily three dozen booths, buying cheese, mushrooms, peaches, zucchini, peppers, corn, garlic, raspberries, blackberries, a wide variety of tomatoes, mixed flowers and eucalyptus. We were really loaded. If I'd had one more pair of hands, I would have bought a beautiful Cinderella pumpkin, and some squash!

Oh.....and GREEN BEANS! And BASIL! And 5 ears of corn! (In the background I can hear Dear Husband saying, "And two hard boiled eggs.) My mind is turning to fall meals. I want to cook things that fill the house with great scents, and wake my tongue with interesting seasonings. Roasted garlic, homemade pesto, diced tomatoes and broiled rounds of French bread. Sausage and Orzo soup, with crusty bread. Bee met Friday night and I made Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing, and an Apple-Strawberry Streuse; Pie for dessert. Can a Dutch apple pie be too far behind??

Next week, I may visit the French Market, just to see what they have to offer. How can you not enjoy the variety they offer? And the following week, we hope to go to the Antique Market. We won't be food shopping there, but we may find something to eat as we shop. *G*

I'm going to go make stuffed green and red peppers for dinner tonight, so I'd better get a move on. I hope you've all been well, and that life has been good to you.