August 2011 Archives

I've been a busy bee!

I have been learning to use my new sewing machine. I bought it for the purpose of machine quilting small to medium sized quilts. It's capable of free motion quilting, as well as straight line quilting using the dual feed feet. I have been trying to do both of these with my very old Singer sewing machine, and it's astonishing how much easier it is to accomplish the quilting when you use a machine built for that purpose. I have now finished one quilt with loopy free motion quilting, and one that is "stitch-in-the-ditch" style. I completed sewing the binding of the larger one this afternoon, another first. I have always attached my binding to the front, pinned it to the back, and then hand-sewn it in place. This time, I sewed it to the back, and then pulled it to the front and machine stitched it down. YEA!!! I have learned SO MUCH since I bought this machine, and have been talking with the ladies of Scraps on a Mission. I feel like I'm growing by leaps and bounds!

I got up early and went out to breakfast. Dear Husband was off sailing, I had a list of chores to do, and got an early start. I planted two of the five mums I picked up earlier in the week, and set the pots on either side of the garage doors.

I fed the birds, and discovered that the rodent population had found the partially empty bag of nyjer seed that I bought for the finches. I forgot to put it in one of the sealed bins, and it didn't take them any time at all to find it and decimate the seed. That will teach me to be sure everything is put away!

I moved my sewing machine back into the studio and reclaimed the dining room. I still have to press the tablecloth but at least one room is getting close to being back to it's normal use. I folded the fabric I bought during August, and stacked it to be ironed later. I organized the equipment on the long table, put things away, and then cut strips of white for the next quilt I want to make. If you receive American Patchwork and Quilting, it's the simple quilt of depression era reproduction fabric and white.

Then, the Nap Monster found me, and took me out for about an hour. Later, I sewed the first of the squares for the new quilt, and then checked the computer for information on roasting a boneless top loin pork roast.

Second Son was making salsa when it was time for me to work on dinner, so we shared the counter space. I steamed green beans, and broccoli and cauliflower, made up some broccoli slaw, and boiled egg noodles to go along with the pork roast. Mother used to make pork roast with browned potatoes, and I think I'll try to recreate that meal later this fall.

The dishes are done, or at least most of them are done. I had to run the dishwasher twice, we had so many pots and pans! It's nice having the counters cleared to start the week.

Tomorrow......grocery shopping, weeding, crocheting squares for Share a Square, and filing are the big boys on my to-do list, with twenty little things to fit in around them. I hope you all have a great week, and that those of you on the east coast are safe and dry.

We've been to the Farmer's Market, and shopped for fruits and veggies for the week.

I have to take the tags for my Share a Square crocheted squares to the teacher's store and get them laminated. While I'm there, I'll visit the bank, which is in the same mall.

I need to pick up backing for a quilt for the church that Scraps on a Mission is making, and I want to see if I can find a few more fat quarters of Depression era reproduction fabrics for a quilt I'd like to make for myself. That project started out as a "use it up, wear it out" quilt, but I need to add to it a bit, so I don't think everything will get used up. Oh darn.....I'll have to make ONE MORE QUILT! *G*

If the storm coming through doesn't last all day, I may try to quilt another lap quilt for Scraps on a Mission. It's pin basted and ready to go. If the storm continues, I'll just pin another top. I don't want my brand new sewing machine on if there is likely to be a power surge that could kill it.

Other than getting a start on some zucchini bread, the rest of the day will be spent lolling around eating bon bons!

It looks like 9:00 at night outside my window, so I think I'll close down until the storm passes by. I hope you're having a great weekend!

I discovered that my husband has a fan club!

This morning before we went to the Farmer's Market, we stopped at Panera for "breakfast." It seems that Dear Husband has been stopping at this Panera for more than a year, ordering a pecan braid and a cup of coffee to start his day. He never varies, except in that he isn't there on Saturdays once sailing season has ended.

So, we are invited to step up to the clerk, and she's chatting away with him, reminding him that he needs to use up his reward drinks within the next two days, and then she asks if I'm his wife!

It turns out the entire staff adores him, and even the bakers like him. This is the place where the baker personalized a pecan braid, writing Dear Husband's name in frosting.

I felt as though I was sitting with royalty for breakfast!

It's amazing how little things make our days so much fun.

Dear Husband delayed his trip to the lake long enough to visit the Farmer's Market with me this morning. I wanted his help in deciding what veggies we would eat this week. We ended up with the standard veggies, nothing exotic. I know that we will be having corn on the cob this Sunday, and that some time in the coming week we will do stuffed green peppers. I'll make the first loaves of zucchini bread for the freezer. I'll plan our meals around the rest.

Here's a look at what I brought home:

Corn, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, red and green bell peppers, melrose peppers, pickle cucumbers, green onions, tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, red raspberries, sunflowers, glads, eucalyptus and apple cider donuts! Oh, and plain cheese curds. I would have had to make several trips to the car with that load.

It was a lovely way to start the day. *S*

Earlier this summer a member of our family who lives in Colorado was passing through the Chicago area and was able to visit with us over dinner. We posed for several pictures after dinner, and I thought I'd post the one where my step-daughter was facing the camera! *G*

The tallest girl and the little one to the left are our granddaughters, and the other little girl is our great niece.

I've been crocheting 6" squares for kids who are cancer patients. When I finish posting here, I plan to do one more. I thought I'd post a picture of the stack I'm getting ready to send to Shelly Tucker. If you'd like more information on this project, go to www.thiseclecticlife.com and look for the FAQ page for Share a Square.

I was out weeding today. I probably should have started earlier than I did, but the day was pretty reasonable until about 12:30. The gardens along the brick sidewalk to the house are one of the hotter areas to work.

I could post a picture of an area totally cleared that is about 4' by 4', but that seems sorta silly. Just envision it. From there I crossed the walk to the garage side of the gardens.

Having seen it from this perspective, I've decided to take out everything to the wall to the left of the downspout. The iris right next to the downspout have to be moved this week. I can't decide whether I want to put them in the ground or try to winter them over in large pots. I think they might do better in the ground, but I'll need to baby them for the rest of the growing season to get them settled for winter.

I moved up the walk toward the front door and cleared the area between the purple fountain grasses and the mum.

Below is a long shot of the garden. I wanted you to see the tomato plant that has taken over the west end of that garden. The chipmunks must not have liked my choice of plants. I've actually left it because it's shading a coral bells that is planted in a too-sunny area. And, my Dad and Mother always seemed to have a stray tomato plant in their gardens. I suspect it was a private joke between them.

This is the pile of weeds that came out of these three small spaces:

After I weeded, I thoroughly watered. We had heavy rain on Saturday, but the gardens were bone dry. More to come later.

Yup, I've been away since July 24th! This must be the longest hiatus since I began blogging. I've been incredibly busy, and also, at times, a sloth.

We finished cleaning out the documents and had the shredder visit.

I led exercise twice in July, and will lead again in September.

We made a trip to visit with Frankie's family, to see My-Niece-The-Artist off to Denmark.

Scraps on a Mission has met, and we've made more quilt tops. (I'll take a picture of the one I finished on Sunday, and post it.)

Share a Square is up and running again, and I'm trying to get some 6" squares crocheted for them, and looking for volunteers.

The gardens have exploded with the recent rain. and so have the weeds. I finally started my Fall weeding today, and expect to weed daily until we finally get a killing frost.

Sis....I wanted you to know that we're having Mom's barbecue for dinner! *G*

So, filing, quilting, crocheting, cleaning the basement, weeding, exercise...these are the things of my life. Read on for more.

I hope you are all having a great summer!

We had a visit from one of my great nephews. I think he may be the tallest of the lot, and I couldn't resist a quick picture. Dear Husband is such a good sport about short jokes. He has the biggest heart of any man I've ever met!

If you've read here over the past three years, you know that I crochet squares for the Share a Square project. Shelly Tucker of This Eclectic Live has organized people who crochet to make afghans for children who are attending cancer care camp.

I hope that if you know anyone who crochets you will encourage them to go to the FAQ page on Shelley's blog to read up on what she needs. Shelly has a nice group of people stitching away for her, but she can use more help. Every afghan has 80 six-inch crocheted blocks, and each block is from a different person. Our goal is to make 150 afghans to give to kids at camp during the summer of 2011. Shelly is already accepting squares for the first 50 afghans.

If you look to the right, you can see a link with a crocheted block. Your work doesn't have to be this complex. I'm learning a few more intermediate block designs, but I also send simple (old-fashioned) granny squares. The blocks must be crocheted out of worsted weight yarn (acrylic, no wool), and you need to be sure to weave the tails of the yarn through the stitches on the back. End your stitching at a corner, and leave an 18" tail to be used assembling the squares.

Help......we need your help! Join us at Facebook if you like.

I'm sure that I rambled on about BOXES in my July entries. We decided that we would hire one of those shredding trucks to come and destroy out of date documents. We hired a youth group to bring the boxes upstairs, and then Dear Husband and I started going through the boxes.

DH separated all the pages from the binders. When he was done there was a line eight feet long of empty binders, with more binders starting a second level. I don't think we will need to buy binders again.

While Dear Husband worked on the binders, I started going through my mothers papers. The dirt was incredible. I'm sure there was dirt left from Missouri, her previous home, about 25 years ago! We had checks and registers going back to 1982. Once those were done, I cleared out our personal papers, which was a little bit easier. I save more than I should, but I organize it in a way that makes it easy to separate the important things from the trash.

I developed a system moving things out of one box, removing paper clips, mementos and anything that couldn't go through the shredder. I spent one Saturday sorting through the boxes at the speed of light, watching reruns of CSI:NY. When I finished the personal papers I moved on to the company documents.

Ultimately, we had forty seven boxes lined up along the back side of the fireplace in the foyer.

I even found things in the office that could go, staying up one night to be sure that everything that needed to be shredded was ready to go. Of course, the shredder came a week later, and I had to wait all day for him to show up.

Still, it's such a relief that we have started getting this cleaned up. Now I need to use the shop vac that I borrowed from My-Sister-The-Nurse, so that I can get it back to her. No more being a sloth for me!

Oh, my......the gardens have gotten away from me once again.

It's silly to think that they are going to behave while I spend a month indoors hiding from the heat. It was cool at the start of the day, so I went out to work in the long bed along the drive. I thought I just needed to pull about six tall weeds and cut out four shrubby starts. On the drive side the gardens weren't too bad, but on the lawn side of the bed it's nightmare. I did a quick and dirty cleanup of the center of the bed on the drive side, and cut down the shrubs. I'll have put put hours in on the gardens every morning for the next month!

Johnson's or who ever it is who makes "Off" is going to make a fortune off me because the mosquitoes are dreadful! The hard part about working in the cool of the morning is that the mosquitoes are still out in force. I wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt with a turtle neck and a hat, and all my clothes get sprayed. I add a little to my neck and ears, and do a lot of ducking from the 'sketers that get past the Off.

I'll have to make a note to myself to do before and after pictures.

We had the pleasure of a long weekend with my youngest sister and her family before my youngest niece flew off to Copenhagen for a semester of study. Frankie tried to stuff us with the most amazing food, beautifully prepared. We actually skipped lunch on Monday because we were so full from the exceptional brunch she had put together.

I was thinking about a snooze that afternoon when My-Niece-The-Artist brought out the sewing machine and started sewing squares together. "Niece....what are you working on?" "A quilt." (Have you ever heard of Eleanor Burn's series "Quilt in a Day"? Or, Mary Ellen Hopkins who makes a quilt within 24 hours so that she can put that date on the quilt? It can be done, but I was surprised she was doing it less than 24 hours before her plane took off.) I offered to pin the rows together. Dear Husband and My-Sister-The-Nurse helped to move the fabric through the sewing machine. We had the top completed shortly after dinner. The Artist and Frankie flew into town to get the batting, and the two of them, and My-Niece-The-Photographer layered and pinned that quilt and Frankie bound it. The Artist packed it in her luggage, and will tie it into a comforter when she is in Denmark. The coolest thing about this quilt, other than the fact that it went together in a heartbeat is that The Artist will be wrapped up in a quilt that everyone had a hand in helping to make. Lots of love in that quilt! I'll have to ask her to send me a picture so that I can post it here.

While we were visiting, there was a plumbing problem in the newer part of the house. As they were trying to get laundry done so My-Niece-the-Artist could pack clean clothes for her trip, they were trying to deal with a leak in the pipes that had water flowing from the utility room to the garage. The problem spread, and they finally called for a plumber. The bathroom, master bedroom, utility room, the stairs to the lower level and part of the garage all need repairs now. My sis and her husband are fortunate that they are empty nesters right now, so that they can move to the older part of the house while the repairs are made. Tree roots. Who would have thought they could cause so much damage!?

Tuesday morning, a week ago, we all gathered for breakfast because The Artist was flying to Denmark, The Photographer and her SO were going back to school, and My-Sister-The-Nurse, Dear Husband and I were driving home. It was a noisy gathering, and we had a great breakfast. Here's a picture of most of the happy diners:

Here's My-Sister-The-Nurse with The Artist. Don't you LOVE the legs???

It was tough to say goodbye, but we all know what amazing memories she will have of this trip, so we sent her off with love and the caveat that she enjoy every moment of her semester.