Friday, March 27, 2020

Grand-fur babies, etc


First of all, our daughter that lives in St. Louis sent me this one last week:


Delta was a happy camper...her mom had to work from home part of the day.

Then today, Lorelei started sending me pics of their babies.


Poor old Otto...he is getting old.  I am not sure when he was born but I think in 2007 or 2008.  He was a puppy that belonged to neighbor but kept coming to their house.  After about the 3rd time of taking him home, they asked the people did they really want him.  They didn't, so Sarah and Jeremy just kept him.


And above  is Rosie...she is approximately 5 yrs. old.


And of course there is Kitty Soft Paws.  She is a little sweetheart.

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I have 3 more leaves finished...



We had some sun peeping in and out...was porch sitting temperatures.  It is wonderful to be outside without having to wear a jacket.



Tuesday, March 24, 2020

I'm still stitching....

I don't know if I will ever have enough of these to make much of anything, but the process of making them has been fun...


And the pile is growing bigger...


I have lost count of how many there are.  But over 50 for sure.

And I made these from scraps...


One of my daughter's friends, well, she is my friend, too...sent me a link to making these masks.  She is a nurse at a hospital in Indy and said they could use some.  I only had one package of the elastic so could only make these 7.  I have ordered elastic, but it says it will be up in May before it comes.  But we shall see.  I have to go to Walmart to pick up a prescription and I am going to check while there.

See that red fabric with the cars, etc?  A quilt shop I go to has a plastic bin they throw their scraps in.  I am assuming from the classes they teach.  And one can fill up a gallon ziploc bag and buy it for $5.  You never know what will be in the bin.  You choose what you want.  They even encourage me to pour it out on the counter if they are not busy.  There is a second quilt shop I go to that has a big wire basket with scraps, not quite as cheap as the other place.

Anyway, I got that piece of car fabric, not having any idea what I would do with it,  But it was such a nice size for a scrap that I got it.  There is still enough of it to make at least two more masks.  I figure a guy might like one like that. The very top one with the gold vine/leaves is a fabric I made pjs with, all the rest used for these are from those scraps I buy.  The mask is reversible?--not sure what the word is.  Each one takes two 6 inch by 9 inch pieces of fabric...so either side can go out.  And I use two different fabrics on each one.

While I was picking out fabrics for these, I found two scraps of orange that I will use for leaves...and also found a scrap of orange fabric I used in a dress for Lorelei.  I was so happy to find it...I had been meaning to look for it but kept forgetting.
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I am still waiting on fabric to finish my other project...the fabric is supposed to be here Saturday.  Hopefully when it comes I can get busy with that. 

I hope all of you are okay while we stay home.   The staying home does not bother me too bad...though I would dearly love to get out for a slow, rambling drive.  For the most part, I have really enjoyed not getting up and getting ready to leave ever morn.

Normally, I try to find a little something funny to post...but today I leave you with a 7 yr. old...



Hope you enjoyed it...I hate to think what I would have sounded like at that age, not that it isn't even worse now.



Wednesday, March 18, 2020

See the box


See the box above?  I did not think to put the flaps down, but you can easily see where they fold.  The box was not quite square but almost. And those two items in front of it are all that was in it.  They must have been running short of boxes.

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It was also time to order something from Amazon.  What used to cost me $22, was $49 through a seller  where as before it was from Amazon Direct.

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Taken a couple nights ago....but I hope it leaves a smile on your face now.

Monday, March 16, 2020

Still waiting...


We are still waiting for sights such as these....


And if the date these were taken is anything to go by, we still have at least a couple weeks before we see them.   I would like to get out and go for a drive and just see what we could see.

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I took Roger to breakfast this morn...it will be the last time for a while.  I came home and made phone calls to reschedule a scan.  Then rescheduled the dr. visit that follows it.  And then called family dr. to  have her call in a couple prescriptions.  I am always relieved when these things get done.

Next, I went to my sewing room...searched what felt like half an hour for the four leaf blocks I had just finished the other day.  In reality I don't even know if I hunted 15 minutes.  They were where they should have been, but something had got lain over them.  I cut the back away from under the appliqued part, and got the paper out.

Then I worked on a project I cannot show yet because someone might see it that I don't want to see it.  It is a quilt top...I can tell that.  Just need to decide on what I want to do for a border, and get that done.  I want to get it finished and sandwiched and quilted and be done with it.  Of course , I am apt to take a month on deciding how to quilt it, but I am trying to make that decision be ready to start quilting the minute it is completed.

Until then I will leave you with this:


It is an apron I made for Lorelei's mom a few years ago.  Though I seldom do it, I love to make aprons.

I hope everyone here has a good week ahead...

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

ETC


I came home today after taking Roger to breakfast and sat down...whether it was before or after I stuck a load of clothes in the washer, I cannot say for sure.  But I no more than sat down till Bubbie was up in my lap.  He sat a few minutes and got down, and here came Puss Puss.  She got settled, and Bubbie decided to come back.   I had not planned to sit very long, but when they get in my lap and snuggle in, I just don't have the heart to make them get up right away...so I sat with them about 15 minutes.

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I got another set of wire shelves for my sewing room.  They are 36 inches wide.  I then moved the little plastic 3-drawer  things to under my cutting table.  It feels so much better in there.  I worked some this evening on a project my daughter and I have started.  I want to get it done.  Originally, she was really just helping me, but she done so much, I have to acknowledge that it is as much hers, in some ways, more than mine.  She designed the layout.  When we work together, she does the cutting and I do the sewing.  

Seems like things have conspired against us to keep us from having another day to work together on it.  So I decided to  attempt getting more of it done...and actually got some trimming done, and two more blocks made.
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Batik fabrics are stamped with a resist and then dyed.  Not printed.  So they are basically the same on back and front.    Some people think they can tell the difference,  and sometimes I think I can tell a very slight difference, but even then I am not sure which was the front and which is the back


Also, the photos do not do the fabrics justice.  


I really wish you could see them as they really are.


The above are some batik scraps daughter bought for me but I had not taken the time to photograph them.  I am not showing all of them, but just a few of my favorites.  All of these are a decent size...enough to really do something with if I can ever decide what.  

I am leaving you with a little video.



I could not even laugh at videos like this for a while, after I broke my leg.

I hope you all are having a good week!

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Sign of spring...


I was out in the yard day the other day and fund this hosta popping through.  It is the only one out of all my hostas that has any leaves showing.  It was the last one I looked at so was a pleasant surprise.

While I was out there, of course Bubbie was out there messing around.  I would give anything to have had a movie to show you what he done.  I was standing looking at the dogwood tree...looking at the buds.  He looked at me, then ran and jumped up on the tree and climbed on to this limb...that is about as high up as I am tall.

Oh, he had a gleam in his eye...you can actually see it in his eyes when he is planning something.  He came running out that limb, or should I say attempted to run down it...his feet slipped off and he caught himself with his front feet, could not get back up so put is back feet up and pushed off the limb while letting go with his front paws.  None the worse for wear, though I was headed to try to help him down. 

I don't know what he thought he was going to do to me, but I suspect he thought he was going to run down and grab my head/hair with his claw and scare me.


Remember when he was a young lad, and he used to get up on top of this door if it was open.  He would jump from the back of a chair, to the top of some shelves, and then up there.  I saw him the other day contemplating doing that again...he was in my chair, looking at the shelves, and then at the door.

And I have seen him look at our table and then to the top of the china cabinet.  I don't know why he wants on top of either one, but am glad he doesn't attempt it now.

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I have four more of these ready to applique...yes, I am beginning to have to repeat oranges.  At least one of these is a new one...the one in the lower left.  It looks on the read side on my computer, but it is really a pure orange in reality.  I really like to have something to sew by hand at times.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it.  I used to always take hand sewing with me when I was accompanying anyone to the doctor where we had to wait.

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I know I planned to tell something else but cannot remember it for the life of me.  So, hope you are having a good weekend.


Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Poet....and books


 I had to pick up Lorelei after school...she came and stayed with us 3 or 4 hours.

We had to go by her house on the way home. While there she showed me this poem she had written...click on the pic to expand the view.

I have been trying to find one she wrote about the Iditarod Race....I don't have a good copy of it.  She wrote it two or three years ago.   They read it to the whole school when she wrote it.  She would have been 8 or 9 yrs. old.

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I just finished Alaska Sourdough, Slim Williams by Richard Morenus.   A well written book...that held my interest from start to finish.  The last chapter or two of the book tells about him dogsledding from Alaska to Chicago...and from there to Washington, DC.  You might ask how he did that.  When there was no longer snow, after going some through muck and mud, he came to a place where he rigged  his sled with Model T wheels...you can read a bit about Slim Williams HERE.

My current read:



Bitter Blood:  A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness and Multiple Murders by Jerry Bledsoe.  I have only just begun it but I am done hooked.