Jigsaw puzzles

I finished this puzzle today...it is the first I have worked in a very long time.  My problem with jigsaw puzzles is that once I start one, I cannot leave them alone.  They have always been a favorite form of entertainment.

I have not touched my sewing machine today.  But then how could I...I had a puzzle to work.  Roger better be thankful I finished it before he starved he died of starvation!!!!   LOL  I am not quite that bad, but almost.  I did stop and vacuum while working on it, too.

I am in the mood to start another but trying to resist that urge. 
**********
I got an Otti story for you.

My older daughter was at Lorelei's for Christmas...she was feeling bad and was sleeping on the couch because it felt better than laying flat in bed to sleep.  She had taken something to help her pain and was sleeping soundly.  Keep this in mind.

I didn't know this but Otto likes to go up to the Christmas tree and rub his face in it.  I don't know why...maybe it scratches an itch.  Whatever the reason, daughter heard him.  Then realized she was hearing him over and over and said, "Otto, stop it!"  All this without her ever opening her eyes.

Then she realized it was a constant noise and fully woke up, and there he was with the Christmas lights wrapped around him, and he was straining against them to get to her!  They still have not figured out how the tree did not fall over, but she jumped up and made him back up till she could get the lights worked down off him and he could step out and over them.  

Another day, another pillowcase

Daughter and I went to the Wabash Valley yesterday. Lorelei went with us.  She did not want to go, but she wandered around and looked.  I was about ready to leave and she asked if I wanted to see her favorite fabric...so it was a batik.  In case you don't know, they are dyed fabrics, not printed.  Most batiks don't have a 'wrong' side...you can use either one and not tell the difference.

so I got a yard to make her another pillowcase...
I wish I had taken a photo of the fabric opened up ....

***********

I have been reading The Elephant Whisper by Lawrence Anthony with Graham Spence...and thoroughly enjoying it.  Follow the link to read about it...it is one I don't want to put down.  Yet I don't want to be done with it either.   There's nothing like a good book that you don't want to put down. 

Nice gift!

I am going to try to get back to blogging now...I had planned to blog Christmas Eve and it somehow got away from me.  I hope everyone is well at your house and that everyone had a nice Christmas.

Have you got plans for the coming year?

This item will help me finish one task...getting the rest of the leaves up. It is a favorite Christmas gift from our older daughter.

 I had raked up a bunch of the leaves but there is still a scattering of them...some that fell after I raked, and then the ones under the dogwood tree I have not touched.   There is not a lot of them, but still I would like to get them cleaned up. 

But it won't happen today....it is raining and cold. 

Just a bit of info

So you want to know what I consider the right end to put the wrist strap...

Keep in mind this is just me...I don't know if there is really a correct end.  But I want it to be at the end where the pull tab of the zipper is when the bag is closed.

I wanted to show the inside of the bag....

Lorelei collects Schleich horses...so I put them in tissue paper and put them in the bottom. of the bag.  then I stuffed more paper on top of them to help the bag hold its form...

On top I placed one of her favorite kinds of candy.  We usually share them.

Zipped closed.

This one has a few more treats in it.

Now the stuffed sloth has been placed in the Christmas pillowcase, along with these zippered bags...and ribbon/bow has been used to keep it close.
*************
When she empties them, she can use them for anything she wants.  Maybe she will want to use the bigger zippered pouch to take her deodorant, toothbrush, shampoo when spending the night somewhere.  Or maybe she will want to put her headphones and charger in it...

I want to make one smaller than the gray one to use in my purse.  Maybe even a couple.  I always carry tylenol and usually ibuprofen, and some little items like that.  Wipes for glasses...

Another sewn item...

The zippered bag I made the other day did not serve the purpose I originally planned for it...so I will use it for something else.  I actually have something in mind for it.

 Anyway,  this afternoon I decided to do a different type of zippered bag.  While it was fairly easy to make, I did make one mistake...I got the wrist strap on what I consider the wrong end--TWICE!  The first time I had to rip the seam out was cause I got it in a little crooked.  I didn't notice I had it on the wrong end.  The second time it went in perfect...but was the wrong end.  So I ripped it out one more time and the third time sewing it turned out fine. 

Inside you see the fabric used for the wrist strap.

A few snow geese..

We were coming home and passing the strip pits when I noticed a few snow geese and white fronted geese...we drove down the road to get close.  I wish I could do better at holding steady, but still you get the idea.  It is not near as many as early 2017, but still fun to see.

Afternoon's sewing...

I made this this afternoon...been meaning to make one for a long time now, and TeaQuilts did a video on it so I thought I might as well try it while I had a the time.  It really is easy to make...I forgot to put in a little loop to hold on to while unzipping it.  However, the fusible I used is so still that one doesn't really need  the loop.  But I won't be using that fusible for this again!   The minute I fused it, I knew I had made a bad choice.  But I pressed on and made it work.

************


I just have to share a Jeanne Robertson video...it was hard to know which one to choose.  I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Another day done...

I have a gift for Lorelei and I don't have a box that it fits in, so I decided to make a Christmas pillowcase.  So after Hardee's this morn, headed to the quilt shop and chose these fabrics.  I have made a few over the years.  Even though I have a serger, I had rather do French seams to have finished seams.  There is one tip in the following video that is a small thing, but when doing a bunch of them, would save a lot of time.



It is the part where Tea sews the first line of the French seam across the bottom end and takes it off and irons it.   Then goes back and sews the side seam.  If you don't know what a French seam is watch the video.  It would really add up to time saved when doing several pillowcases at once.

**********
I did address a few Christmas cards today, and took them to the post office after dark and dropped them in the drop box.    I don't remember ever being this late mailing cards.  And it is definitely the fewest I have ever mailed.   And normally I have all the cards we get hanging up and this year I have not done that. 

***********
We always watch for hawks and eagles when going to the Paris, Illinois.  No eagles today and no photos of hawks, but I bet we seen at least 10 different hawks.  One of which was a Northern Harrier...the rest I am not sure about.  But was so fun seeing them.

A couple photos...

I realize I have not posted a photo of Lorelei in ages....she if forever making silly faces if I get the camera out.  But I do have a couple her mom sent me the other day.  This first is of her....

And the one below is of her with her mom and dad...

Can you believe how tall she has grown..

All in a day's work...

Daughter came today and we worked on putting together her half-square triangle units...

This one appears a bit darker than it is in real life...

This one is really light in real life...but it has more blue color to it than shows on this computer.  Not sure how it shows on everyone else's computer.

We have several more to put together...

Old photos...old memories

The Lorelei is here now, so trying to hurry and do a post to get the previous one moved on down the page...in the hopes that if I do forget and open my blog with her around, it won't show up!

These have all been posted before...

In December of 2013.  How I wish we could go back to that time...but at least we have our memories.

*************
I have searched and searched trying to find if I posted about a little drive we did in snow and ice.  I think I told but cannot find it if I did.  I have searched under the labels of snow, and searched all kinds of words.  Anyway, it is one of those memories that I hold dear, but always makes me laugh till I cry.  And one we think of it quite often.

It was a day about like the above...snow AND ice was abundant.  We had headed out on our drive and was going a familiar route.  This route contains a downhill curvy road.    It is the leg part of a 'T' intersection...when our road comes to the other, on the other side of the road is a steep bank DOWN to creek bottoms...and there are fairly good sized trees...at least 7 or 8 inches in diameter are there.

We were turned down that road...we always like to go down it because we used to see wild turkey there often.  So we get to the downhill part, and we don't seem to be slowing down...I tell Roger to please slow down a little bit.  He says 'I have had my foot on the brake ever since we started downhill.'  I am getting tickled...but it is not a laughing matter...the road gets pretty steep...and at the bottom it is a sharp turn either right or left and you can't see if anything is coming from one direction...but the rate we were going, we would not have made the turn.

There on the right side is a little house with a fairly big front yard.  The end of it ends in a steep bank too.  Probably taller than me...it goes straight down to the road.

Roger was at his finest...instead of going over the bank he makes a quick turn into that yard, and just circles around and goes back out the way we came.  There was nothing to hit in the yard, and it was so frozen it would not have tore up the yard....probably barely left tire tracks!  But we always wondered did they see us...did they see our tracks.  Did they realize it was that or a bad wreck?  We would have stopped if we had hurt anything...

But any time it snows, and several times through the year we laugh about that day.

The quilt daughter made is finished...

I got the binding finished today....and by finishing I mean I did most of it today.  I had tried the previous two nights to settle down to doing it and just could not get a good start  I did one corner and part of the side...so NOT even one side finished.  Today I was determined to get a good start on it and ended up finishing it.  I do need to wash it.  And either she or I will need to go over it with the lint roller and try to get all the strings.  I just simply cannot stand in a chair any more and do anything...I tried to stand in one to get the whole think in a picture and just could not do it.

Our daughter came the past two weekends and did the machine quilting...but travels next week.  That was why I ended up doing the binding.

***********
I can still go up and down a ladder though!  Yesterday we worked on cleaning the gutters of the garage.  Roger has extra sections of the hose part of the shop vac and has a part that hooks over the guttering to clean it from the ground.  Since his stroke he just cannot look up much without getting dizzy and if he does look up for more than a very few seconds, he needs something to hold on to when he looks down.  He had to try it though...but just cannot do it.  It is not worth him falling.

So I did the front gutter with shop vac because the ramp is too steep to use a ladder on it....but we got out the big ladder and I helped Roger stand it up to the garage...he held it while I went up and down it...we  still have one end to do...but by the time we got the end and back side done, I did not think I could go up and down the ladder one more time!  But it feels so go for us to work together and do something.

It is raining now...started this afternoon.  and I think rain the next day or two.  But we may have a couple clear days at the beginning of next week with temps not too bad.

A bit of this and that...

This is Lorelei's Otti dog  (Otto)  He is aging so much...

Bubbie takes over my lap at some point most nights....lays on the computer...on me...whatever it takes.

I cannot put out wrapped gifts because he would not leave them alone.  See that ornament above his head?  He will decide to send it flying.  Or will take a run and go and try to slide under the tree shirt.  He does not understand why he does not slide on carpet...which is what he will do the towel in the bathroom with the tile floor.  Oh, I forgot the part that he will pull it off the rack...he will try to get under it...may walk away and then come back and slide under it.

This quilt top now has another border on it...but I cannot seem to get motivated enough to finish it...

This was a tree near my daughter's house in Terre Haute.  Isn't it a beauty?

Not the greattest shot...

Not a great shot, but a lucky one nevertheless...it is hard to zoom in on someting like this with my little point and shoot.  That is when I miss having my DSLR with me.   Anyway.  He was fairly high.  Always happy to see one...and this time there was two, and possibly three.  The third one I only got a glimpse of   through the tree tops.  I could not see it well enough to know if it was an eagle or possibly that big old hawk that lives out there.  And the other eagle was going higher and higher.  It always amazes us how quickly they can just disappear.

A little fall color..

This tree is always just gorgeous...it is just down the street from us.  Usually it is a more brilliant red if you can believe that.  Just different.  I had such a hard time trying to get to photograph it.  Every time you try to stop to snap a photo, does someone appear in your rear view mirror?  I don't know how many times I tried to stop and always someone coming.  And this is not a busy town.  However, I did manage a couple.

Autumn was not long enough for me.  It never is.  We did not get out on any fall rambles, but we did see some beautiful trees just in our normal travels.
**********

I was messing around yesterday at youtube and ran across a different version of the song I shared the other day...Laredo by Band of Horses. I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do...

A couple more items...

 I made this for Lorelei....it was made from fabric leftover from this:

Lorelei loves sloths so I got fabric to make her this pillowcase....

I finally finished this...all it needed was the binding but it sat for years waiting to be finished.  So I finally finished it a few weeks ago.
*************
Here is the Bubbie...

and just one more...

Is he quite the handsome boy?

Daughters' projects...

First I am showing you pillowcases that Lorelei's mom and I made...she chose the fabrics and brought them a couple weekends ago and we worked on them....

I think the second from the bottom is my favorite, but it is hard to choose between it and the second one from the top.
************
Then my older daughter is working on the quilt below...she designed the top...the fabrics are Tula Pink's Delaluna fabric line...not the black, and maybe one other that is not from that line of fabrics.

She comes here to do the quilting.  It is for a Christmas gift.  There is quite a bit of quilting left to do.  I made the binding for her yesterday...When she gets the quilting done I will put the binding on for her...she has to be gone for a week for work, so that will be taking up some of her weekends.

I had a birthday last month...

I had a birthday last month and my daughters and hubby did it up right...that is a batik fabric 'cake', one of the gift boxes had different mini chocolate candy bars, etc.  And one had sewing notions and more thread....click the photos to enlarge.  Notice the spools of thread around the bottom of the cake...they are all King Tut thread.

A very nice addition to my supplies...

I wish I could show you all the batiks individually but that would take all day.

********************
It snowed just a skim today, making everything so beautiful.  But I did not get out in it.  Instead I made the binding for a quilt my daughter is working on.  I will try to think and show the quilt in the next day or two.  And I was trying to use my Viking machine rather than change thread, etc on my Juki downstairs.  The Viking was was making a knocking sound, so I ended up bringing the strips upstairs to sew on a different machine.  The Juki downstairs is set up for my daughter to work on her quilt...that is why I did not want to change things. 

I did go back down later and cleaned the machine...I did not think I had used it enough to get all the lint build up that was in it.  I have NEVER had a machine that was that packed with lint build-up.  I have a habit of sitting and cleaning my machines when I am waiting on the phone, or if I am talking to my brother.    Somehow I missed this one...but it is clean now and no more knocking.  

A finish

I finished the quilting on this using my left foot and I am definitely a right-footed person.  I did wait till I could use my right foot when it came to putting the binding on.

Not the greatest picture, but the best I seemed to be able to do.

*************

I cannot tell you how good it feels to be standing on my own two feet.  I honestly didn't know if I ever would.    It is absolutely wonderful to get up out of my chair and just walk into another room, or stand on my own two feet while I brush my teeth...and not have to balance on one foot.

It is wonderful to be able to walk to the car, get in and drive!!! and just park absolutely anywhere, and not have to worry about being on an end spot where I can get in and out without having to worry about bumping into the car next to me.   There are just so many things that we take for granted.