Just Babbling...

I had my crochet thread out working on some gifts, so I thought I'd whip up some pin spool doilies for my vintage sewing machines...

I caught Ginger waking up from a nap and stretching...

She wasn't thrilled that she had been awakened...

That is all, Folks.  Keeping it short and sweet today...

Loretta

Wildlife In Town...

Quote for the Day:

"Those who wish to pet and baby wild animals 'love' them. But those who respect their natures and wish to let them live normal lives, love them more."
~Edwin Way Teale 

You just never know what you will see in our backyard.  We live "in town", but our property backs up to undeveloped land.   (Well...there are 2 sets of railroad tracks back there, but other than that, it's undeveloped.)   Just past the railroad tracks is the Tygart River...not very wide and not very deep...but a river, nonetheless.  

In our backyard, it's not uncommon to see deer, skunks, ground hogs, squirrels, snakes, moles, and today...a turtle.

Andy was out mowing the lawn, when he found this little guy who was obviously "lost".  We took him to the back of the property line and put him in the brush, hoping he'll find his way back to the river.  

The markings on his shell look like hieroglyphics to me.  Or Native American symbols.  

Back inside the house, we have this "wild" animal...
 

Ginger got a new stuffed animal today, so she immediately had to show it who's the boss!  LOL She takes her stuffed animals or ropes and shakes them back and forth in her mouth.  Then she brings them to you and plays "keep away".  As soon as you go to grab it she pulls it just out of your reach.  :)  She will also take her bed and shake it back and forth like she does the toys.  I guess she's "fluffing" it!  LOL

She has shaken this animal so hard that her collar has turned around and the tag has flipped around to the to top of her neck instead of underneath where it normally hangs!  LOL

I can tell you that this Boston Terrier is one SPOILED dog!  But I love her and she brings so much happiness to my day.  After Andy gets out of bed in the morning, she jumps on the bed and snuggles up beside me and sleeps with me till I get up.  I've come to look forward to snuggling with her in the mornings.  It's a great way to start the day!

Loretta

Moving Right Along...

Quote for the Day:

"A word to the wise isn't necessary, it is the stupid ones who need all the advice."
-~Bill Cosby 

I've been moving right along with the hand-quilting on Kathy's quilt!   I can now see the far edge of the quilt!  :)   

 

This quilt is made from a combination of feedsack fabrics and shirting fabrics.  

I'm sure Kathy is anxiously awaiting its return to her!  I know I would be if I placed a beloved family quilt top into someone's hands to be quilted!  :)

And now, the gratuitous pet picture...

The other night, Ginger was in her bed with her face "squished" up against the side of the bed.  Since Boston's have a "squished nose", anyway, it looked really funny and I was actually able to get a picture of it.  Usually, once she sees you with the camera, she starts barking and stops doing whatever it was she was doing that you wanted to get a picture of!  LOL

Loretta  

 

 

Miss Ginger...

Quote for the Day: 

"On cable TV they have a weather channel - 24 hours of weather. We had something like that where I grew up. We called it a window." ~Dan Spencer We are muddling through a horrible cold snap right now, here in West Virginia.  Since Sunday, the highs have only been around 13-16 degrees F during the day and the lows have been around zero.  :(   Too cold for a daintly little "Miss Priss" like Ginger!  LOL When we got her, the previous owners gave us a little pink coat that they had for her.  Ya know how most animals HATE wearing clothes?  Well, Ginger LOVES to wear her coat!  In fact, if you put it on her, she doesn't want you to take it off.  And if you show it to her, she tries to put her head through the neck hole and put it on!  LOL Since it's been so cold, I put it on her today before taking her outside to take care of her "bizness".    Don't you just LOVE that little bow on the back???  LOL  The hood actually comes forward to cover the head, too, but I didn't use it. Now, imagine if you will...this little 13.5 pound bundle of black, white, and pink taking off across the back yard towards a visiting deer...barking her lungs out!  LOL  If you've ever seen a Boston Terrier bark, their whole body comes up off the ground with the effort!  It's quite comical to see! The deer did vacate the property in a timely manner in response to the little, noisy, frighteningly-pink bundle.  And Ginger turned heel, trotted back to the middle of the yard with her head held high and promptly squatted to do her "bizness" like a good girl!   Loretta

Updates...

Quote for the Day:

"Every man is a fool for at least five minutes every day; 

wisdom consists of not exceeding the limit."
---Elbert Hubbard 

I have been working on steps 7 & 8 of the "Easy Street" mystery.  Both clues came out within a couple days of each other, so I don't remember which parts belong to which clues, but I'll show you what I've go accomplished so far, anyway.

These are the 4 corner blocks that will be the corners of the quilt:

Because the blocks in this quilt are "on-point", you need half-blocks to finish out the rows.  Here are the half-blocks I have made so far:

I have five made so far...I need a total of 12.  I don't know if it's just me, or what...but these seem to be going together VERY slowly for me.  :(   I lay out the pieces for 3 half-blocks at a time and then sew them together row by row.   Since I have about 5 fabrics of each color, I'm trying to keep from having too many of the same fabrics in the same area.

Does anybody have any ideas how to speed up the process?   I'm open to suggestions as to how you are putting yours together and keeping it scrappy.

And this isn't even a DENT in the making of the actual quilt blocks!  I'm beginning to feel very overwhelmed and am losing interest.  UGH!  :(

Onto another subject...

Yesterday, I did some couponing at Walgreen's and this is what I got...

I got $39.67 worth of product for $8.23 out-of-pocket, but got $13.00 back in Register Rewards, making this a $4.77 moneymaker!

I know, I know...why am I buying prenatal vitamins and infants Advil when I'm not pregnant and don't have a baby???   Because I know someone who IS pregnant.  

Yep...that's right, Folks...we're gonna be grandparents again!  Our daughter-in-law, Trinity, is pregnant!  :)  She is due this July so these items will be passed along to her!  :)   (I think I'll save that REDLINE energy shot and give it to my son AFTER the baby is born!  LOL  He'll be needing it!  As much as the new mother will NEED it, she won't be able to have it because of the caffeine!) 

And here's one last thing...

I've told you in previous posts how much Ginger loves playing with her bed.  The other night she was spinning around in circles with it in her mouth.  She stopped when I tried to get a video of it, but I did get one of her shaking it back and forth.  (BTW, the orange/red thing you see in the video is NOT blood...it is the price sticker on the bed's tag.)    

Loretta

Happy New Years' Eve...

Happy New Years' Eve to all my friends, family, and blog readers!   :)

I have a couple of things to share today...
First on the list, Easy Street Mystery clue #5 came out on Friday and I was able to work on it over the weekend and got all 128 "double bricks" made up and got the triangles cut.

 

 

This is now what the box looks like that is holding all of the completed steps so far...

Another clue came out this morning, but since I have to work 12 hours today, am on-call for 12 hours tomorrow, and then work 8 hours on Wednesday, I won't get to the clue until Thursday, unless I end up not needing to go in to work tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago, a blogger that I follow wrote about saving wrapping paper that he takes off of presents and reuses it.  What followed was a conversation about what his readers saved.  I don't save wrapping paper, but I do save the tissue paper that comes with gifts and, of course, gift bags.

It is so well known in our family that I save the tissue paper, that now at parties and holiday time, the kids just pass the tissue paper over to me as they are unwrapping the presents...I don't even have to pick it out of the piles anymore!  LOL

In the past, I just smoothed out the tissue paper and folded it back up.  However, as I was going into my sewing room to put some tissue paper and a gift bag away yesterday, I walked right by the ironing board and a thought struck me...."hey, I wonder if you can iron the wrinkles out of tissue paper?"

Well, by golly, you CAN!!!  :)  

Before:

Smooth it out on the ironing board:

A quick swipe with the iron:

Folded and ready for storage...4 fresh, like-new pieces of tissue paper!!!

I think it took about a total of 3-5 seconds to iron each sheet!!!  How easy is that???  

Now, I realize that if you don't keep your iron and ironing board up all the time, this probably isn't feasible.  But since, as a quilter, I keep mine up 90% of the time, this works just fine for me!  And it certainly is faster and cheaper than getting in the car and driving over to the store to buy tissue paper!  :)

Ginger has taken to carrying her bed around and putting it in whatever room I'm in at the moment.  Last night, she carried it into the quilting room so she could be by me while I quilted.
 

The funny thing is is that she lifted the bed OVER the bracing bar that you see running between the two ends of the quilting frame!   Not an easy feat for a 13 lb. dog when the bed is as big as you are!  LOL  Even after I left the room to go to bed, she stayed right there and slept all night long!  :)

Loretta

Tuesday at the Homestead...

Quote for the Day:

"One yard of fabric, like one cookie, is never enough!"

~author unknown

This month, my local quilt store is having a sale and all of the clearance fabric that is normally $4.00/yard is now HALF PRICE!!!  That's quality quilt store fabric for $2.00/yard!  What's not to love about that???

For that price, I decided to pick up a LOT and piece the backings for my next several (dozen) quilts instead of buying wide backing fabric which usually sells for $12.00 and up/yard!  

So...off I toodled to Classic Quilt Shop in Clarksburg, WV, today to find some treasures that I can use as quilt backings...

 ...and came home with 75 1/4 yards of fabric!!!  I really like stripes on a quilt back, so that was a lot of what I picked up along with some pretty florals.   $609 worth of fabric from manufacturers like RJR, Marcus Brothers, Northcott, and South Sea Imports for only $152.50!!!     SCORE!!!

I think that red striped fabric on the middle bolt will end up on the back of the Christmas Mountain Morning quilt!   And those two blue and yellow coordinating fabrics on the left end of the bolts...I have plans for them, too!  ;)

Speaking of quilts...here is Ginger on hers...not that she's spoiled or anything...

After Andy gets up in the morning and takes her out, Ginger comes up and jumps on the bed with me to catch some more winks.  Then when I get up and make the bed, she likes to sleep between our pillows on ON my pillow so I cover our pillows with this baby quilt.  It is hand-embroidered and hand quilted.  I rescued it from the Goodwill Thrift Store in Valdosta, GA, for $3.83 a couple years ago.  


She's not spoiled or anything...       :)

Loretta

Monday Morning Update...

Quote for the Day:

“The love of a family is life's greatest blessing”

~author unknown

 

The chicks have began returning to the nest!   Paul, Trinity, and Andrew arrived Saturday evening, and Erin and her family will arrive in a couple of days!  Thus has begun the gathering of the family for Thanksgiving!  :)

 

Andrew LOVES LOVES LOVES the owl hat I made for him!  I think he wore it non-stop the first 24 hours he was here...except when his mom made him take it off for sleeping!  LOL

 

He doesn't care if it's backwards or not...just as long as it's on!  I'm not even really sure that he cares about the "owl" part of...simply that it is a HAT and he has an obsession with hats!  :)

In fact, sometimes ONE hat is not enough...you must wear TWO hats...

As per usual, Ginger has taken to the MEN of the family and has made Paul her new BFF!  

Missy, their Boston Terrier, isn't quite sure she approves...LOL...

I found out that Trinity likes following some of the same TV shows I do after her sister called on Sunday evening to remind her that the new season of "Sister Wives" started that night.  I'm glad Tracy called to remind us, because with all the excitement of family here, I had forgotten!   So Trinity and I watched the season premier of that and then the final episode of "Breaking Amish".   I had my misgivings about some of the things with "Breaking Amish", but was sorely disappointed in the abundance of lies that came out in the interviews of the last 2 episodes.  Let's just say that what little respect I had for the cast before the interview went right out the window afterwards.  I also wonder just WHAT WAS TLC THINKING?   Did they not think that the lies and manipulation of "facts" wouldn't come out?  Or were they duped, too?

And...just for the record...I have read copious books about the FLDS from people who have left the church, as well as an impartial expose, "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer, that I don't believe everything about "Sister Wives".  However, I find it interesting to watch the dicotomy of what they about being a 'sister wife' being so "wonderful" vs. what they say candidly...and it just doesn't jive.  Neither does what they say about the religion vs. all that I have read/researched about it.  But...it's still an interesting show to watch when you keep your eyes and ears open and have some knowledge beforehand that the show obviously isn't going to give you.  Makes for interesting watching that way!

Now...on to Monday morning...

Last night Trinity and I found a recipe for Crockpot French Toast and tweaked it a little to suit us:

 3/4 of long loaf of bread (we threw in 4 stale hot dog buns, too!)

9 cups milk

8 eggs

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.  

Break bread into 1/2 slices and layer in crockpot.  

Mix other ingredients together and pour over bread.

Cook on low overnight 6+ hours.  (I actually cooked ours on "warm" setting for 8.5 hours.)

Remove lid in the morning and cook another 15 min. on high to toast the top.

Serve with maple syrup.

 

It makes something resembling a bread pudding and is ABSOLUTELY DELISH!!!

And, yes, if that does look like the keyboard behind the bowl, it is!  I eat my breakfast at the computer every morning!  :)  It's how I roll!.  

Loretta

 

 

  

Poor Ginger...

Quote for the Day:

"My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet."

  ~Edith Wharton

Poor little Ginger.  She's not feeling up-to-snuff today because yesterday she went to the vet and got "snipped" and "chipped".  (Spayed and micro-chipped.) 

Last night was the worst.  She could hardly walk and whimpered the entire time she was awake.  I wasn't supposed to give her a pain pill until today, but I broke down and gave her one last evening, anyway.  It broke my heart to see her like this.  :(   

But I know that in the end, it was the best thing to do for her.  We don't plan on breeding her so there was no reason for her not to get spayed.  And because we aren't sure, yet, whether or not she will "bolt" when the door is opened, we went ahead and had her micro-chipped.  Since they use a fairly large needle to insert the chip, they prefer to do it when the dog is under anesthesia for another reason.  They also give you a discount on it if it is done with another procedure. 

Today she is able to go up and down stairs, though not at her usual 100 mile/hour rate!   And this morning she was able to jump onto the bed to join me in a few more snores of sleep after Andy got up to go to work.  Those are all things she was not able to do last evening, so I know that she is slowly starting to feel better.

For the most part, she has spent her time sleeping near me...here she is in her bed in the office near my computer while I type this post.

I hope she heals quickly because this weekend our kids start arriving, bringing the grandkids and grand-dogs!  It will be the first meeting between Paul's boston terrier, Missy, who thinks she is the alpha-dog, so we'll see how things go.  We will have to make sure that Ginger takes it easy so her stitches don't get pulled on or ripped out.  

I've decided to join in Bonnie Hunter's annual "mystery quilt" this year, called "Easy Street". I've pulled my fabrics from my stash and only had to go buy 2 yards of a "constant", which is the rich, chocolate brown in the foreground.

 

I love fall colors and have been wanting to make a "fall" quilt, so I'm taking this opportunity.  My colors are WAAAYYY different from Bonnie's, so I'm hoping the colors I've chosen will go nicely in the pattern.  The "scary" part for me is that it is a MYSTERY...hence, you are only told what to cut and how to sew it together...you don't know what the final quilt looks like till you get to that stage!   This is definitely pushing my quilting boundaries, but I'm looking forward to it.  It's only fabric, right?  It's not a life-and-death decision (like my job)...quilting is just supposed to be FUN!  So I'm going to go along for the ride and FUN!  :)  

I'll post pictures of the steps as I do them, so be looking for updates starting sometime after Nov. 23, which is when the first step comes out.  However, since family will be visiting till Nov. 26, I won't be able to get started on it till after they leave...so don't race back on the 23rd expecting an update!  LOL

Loretta

 

 

Sadie Mae...

Quote for the Day:

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.
~Scott Adams

That quote is soooooooooo true about appliances, including the sewing machine.  
  
I've been sewing since 1976 and I'd been dreaming of a fancy computerized machine ever since I first saw one my friend had back in the about 1990.  I finally bought myself a Husqvarna Viking Platinum 775 Royal Edition back in 2005.

I will be the first to tell you how much I love it and how nice it is to sew on.  BUT...it is heavy and ever since I'd first seen Singer Featherweights in person, I wanted one to take to quilting classes.   (Featherweights only weigh about 12 pounds!)

So April of 2011 when we were in Maine visiting Andy's family, we went to an estate auction and I picked up a featherweight with the table for a STEAL!   I named it "Sadie Mae" after Andy's grandmother and found that it was made in 1946.  She'd been used so much that she wasn't very "pretty".  Some of her decals have been rubbed off with use and her finish isn't very shiny.  I took it to a local repairman to have it gone through, oiled, lubed, and have the belt replaced. 

He gave it a clean bill of health, but I was never completely happy with the way it sewed.  I know that I had to really play with the tension to get it semi-close to where it was supposed to be and the flywheel seemed "tight" and had to be turned EVERY time you pressed on the foot pedal or else the needle wouldn't start.  I didn't think it worked quite right and I put it away in my sewing room. 

Then in September when we were in Tennessee on vacation I found another featherweight at an antique store.  The price was very reasonable and it was in better condition than Sadie Mae, with less scratches and the decals still intact.  I found out it was made in 1957 and I named it "Mary Gwendolyn" after my mother.   I found that this "new" featherweight sewed fast and easily and the tension was perfect.  So I now KNEW that something was wrong with the first one.

Since I now have 3 old Singer machines, (2 featherweights and a 301) I no longer take them into the repairman for simple service.  Instead, I do the oil and lube myself.  Aside from routine maintenance, there isn't really much that goes wrong with these machines.

I pulled Sadie Mae off of the shelf and decided that I'd give her a test run and, once again, the tension was off and I couldn't get it straightened out, and the flywheel was tight.  

Thank God for Google!  I researched it and found that the motor had been tightened down too far when the new belt was applied.  Loosening it was just a matter of turning a screw slightly and raising the motor a fraction of an inch!  :)

Now the flywheel turns freely and I no longer have to turn it when I press the foot pedal to get the needle to move.  The needle now moves as soon as I push on the pedal!  YAY!  

But what about that dang tension issue???

See how the stitches make the fabric pucker?  You can't have that.  :(    I knew that it was something in the upper tension.  The spring that is supposed to move up and down with the pull of the thread was SO difficult to move, it just wouldn't "give" like it was supposed to.

Back to Google I went...and I found this page that shows how to disassemble and reassemble the tension unit.  I figured if I couldn't fix it, I'd take it to a (different) repairman and if I was able to fix it, then I would have saved a lot of money!  :)

Well...I am happy to report that simply the act of removing all the pieces and replacing them back worked wonders and now the tension is PERFECT!!!  

With the loosening of the motor and fixing the tension, Sadie Mae now runs just as well (and as fast) as Mary Gwendolyn!  :)  And the fixes were all FREE!!!  


With the upcoming quilting retreat, I wanted to find a small travel iron to take with me so I can press right at my sewing machine rather than having to go to a pressing station for EVERY seam.  (Yes, I press a lot when I'm quilting.  Finger pressing doesn't do a good enough job for the OCD person in me!  LOL)  

I had some errands to do today, so I thought I'd check at Goodwill before going to Walmart to buy one.  Today was my lucky day!   Look what I found at Goodwill for $5.00!!!

A Black and Decker "Stowaway" travel iron!!  These retail for $22-29.00!!  The handle holds the water for the steam and when you want to pack it, you simply push a lever to lay the handle over.  

It even came with a nylon bag to store/pack it in!!!  I'm a very happy girl!  :)



I'll leave you now with a picture of Ginger in her bed by my desk.  She has to be right by me, though usually she wants to be touching me...which makes it difficult for me to sew when she's leaning up against my leg.  LOL

She flips her bed upside down before she gets into it.  If you turn it upside down, she flips it right side up before getting in it.  What's with that???  LOL


Loretta
  

A Family Visit...

Quote for the Day:

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."

  ~Author Unknown

If you know my family, you know that quote was never more appropriate!  

I come from a LONG line of craziness.  When we get together we spend long hours laughing.  You know that kind of laughter...when you end up holding your sides because they are cramping from laughing and you think you'd better go to the bathroom before you pee yourself...but you don't want to leave the hilarity long enough to make that trip to the bathroom? 

Last Saturday my sister, Sharon, her daughter, Susana, and her granddaughter, Monica, came to visit.  

No reason....just to visit.  Rarely are we able to get together like this.  With everyone working and running busy lives, we usually only get together at weddings, funerals, birthdays, graduations, etc.  As much as I love seeing each of the family at those events, we are usually staying in different places and some of our "together" time is cut into by the events.  However, since we had nowhere in particular to be and nothing in particular to do this visit, the time was spent relaxing together and just VISITING!   

Our family can laugh and joke through even the "mundane" things in life, like cooking supper.  At one point, Susana and I were in the kitchen making supper and Sharon came in and asked if we'd been hitting the cooking sherry because we were laughing and carrying on like crazy people!  LOL

Andy & I taught them how to play "Apples to Apples" which always causes a lot of laughing if played right!  LOL

When Andy had to return to work on Monday & Tuesday, I took them shopping at some of our favorite haunts...Goodwill and Ollie's...as they are bargain shoppers, too.  :)  We also spent time sitting around reading and just enjoying each others company.  

Ginger took to Monica like Monica was her own personal play toy.  The two of them were inseparable and Ginger even slept with Monica while they were here.  :)

Monica is 13 and is in the process of becoming a stunning young woman!

I have no other pictures from their visit, but mainly because we didn't do anything "earth shattering"...just spent a lot of time together enjoying ourselves.  :)

Those are the best kinds of visits and I hope we can do it all again sometime!  :)

Loretta