Journal: Ready for Christmas 2016 -- and The Lost Quilt Is Found!

A few nights ago, I was sitting by my open kitchen window, typing away.  I received an email.  The notification for that particular sender is an early-morning robin song.  The computer robins weren’t half done with their tune before a robin out in a tree in the front yard launched into his morning warble!  Boy, oh boy, I’ll betcha he felt confused for hours after that.

Last Sunday, 81 people downloaded my free patterns!  That’s a record.  The next day, there were 59 downloads.  And I sold 10 in three days.

Yesirree, I gotta make more patterns!  Why, if I had enough o’ them thar thangs fer sale, I could be making good money in our retirement years! 

Tuesday, I washed clothes and hung them out on the line.  It was only 59°, and the wind was whipping through at over 30 mph.  Chilly out there on the back deck!  But the clothes dried quickly, as the humidity was only 38.8%.

The cam sensor for Victoria’s ‘new’ VW Touareg came into the parts store that day.  However, in searching for information on the problem of the sudden hard downshifting online, Larry found advice saying to clean the old sensor first, as some vehicles don’t actually need a new one.  So that’s what he did, and then he took it to O’Reilly’s to have them clear the codes.

It worked – for a day or so.  And then it did its odd shifting.  So a couple of days later, Larry put the $85 cam sensor on it.  He also discovered someone had removed the air filter – and not put one back in.  So he put in a new air filter, and thought all was well.  He put a new glass in the sideview mirror... reinserted a few rivets in some outer trim... washed it... filled it with gas... and let Victoria drive it Saturday.  She, of course, had to put it in Sports mode and check it out for zip and go, doubtless romping on the accelerator.

It soon downshifted, hard.  It feels like someone slams on the brakes when it does that, and can’t possibly be good for the vehicle.  So Larry is right now, as I type, searching the Internet for a diagnosis and a solution.

The Touareg drives and rides very nice; it’s a good, solid vehicle.  It will still be a bargain, even if we have to spend a little to fix it.

Tuesday, since Larry was drooling for them, I made lemon poppyseed muffins before scurrying downstairs to my quilting machine.  Gotta get the Christmas tree skirt done!

I’m of the same frame of mind as my brother, who last winter when he was working his head off cutting our trees, and I protested, said, “Well, I didn’t realize there wasn’t a deadline!”

I got three rays of the Swirling Star nearly completed that night and rolled the quilt forward, cringing as the 3D poinsettia went squishing onto the take-up bar.  After that, I needed to hurry all the more, and complete the quilt so I could get it off that bar before the blocks were permanently crushed.

My blind friend Rita, upon hearing about the mountain lioness and cub near our house, told the following story:

“One summer, Gay and I slept outside at her sister’s cabin.  We had our cots and two dogs.  That night, we heard a low growl.  It kept going up in pitch until it was a scream.  The dogs never moved; neither did we.  Gay saw the footprints by the river and we found out it was a bobcat. 

“I guess we were both too scared to move.  I never heard such an awful sound.  Someone actually saw the bobcat.  It was really dry that summer.  I’ll never forget that experience.”

Yeah, those big cats can sure scream! – and the bigger they are, the louder they scream.  I haven’t heard anything more about the mountain lion.  I looked for any news online, but saw nothing.

One time Daddy and Mama and I were traveling in the mountains of California.  We had a Buick Electra and a 31-foot Airstream.  We got way up high in the mountains, and stopped for lunch at a pullout beside the road.  Daddy climbed out of the car, headed around the front of it... Mama stepped out... and a mountain lion somewhere in the distance screamed, and it echoed and reverberated all through the mountains.  My mother, who never screamed, did scream, and leaped right straight back into the car.  Daddy, who hardly ever laughed at my mother, laughed so hard he had to rest a hand on the hood to support himself.

He regathered himself, assured us that the cat was a lot farther away than it had seemed, and said we were safe to go into the trailer.  Mama stared long and hard at the nearby mountainsides before venturing back out of the car.

Once you hear a big cat scream, you don’t forget it!

Wednesday the wind was worse than it had been Tuesday, whistling through at over 40 mph.  I had another load of clothes to dry, but I didn’t hang them out; they probably wouldn’t have stayed on the line.

I had a lemon poppyseed muffin and a glass of milk for breakfast, filled my coffee cup with Cameron’s French Vanilla Almond, and off I went to the quilting machine. 

I was floating the top, and it wasn’t going too badly, though there was extra fullness here and there.  I stuffed oodles and gobs of stray bits and pieces of batting into it in an endeavor to take up some of that excess fullness.  There were going to be some unavoidable tucks in it – hopefully unobtrusive ones.  I did stitch-in-the-ditch with variegated thread in the Swirling Star.  The jury was still out on whether or not it would be fair-worthy.  There wouldn’t be another one like it, that’s for sure!

Loren has been sick; he has a bad cold.  That always worries me.  He went to the Urgent Care Center that morning and got a couple of prescriptions, and he seems to be recovering.

After church that evening, Larry and I got sancho grandes and one taco grande from El Matador’s Mexican Restaurant.  We drove out to Lake North to eat them, sharing the taco grande.  El Matador’s sanchos are big.  By the time we got home, I was a stuffed grande.  :-D

I worked on the Christmas tree skirt for a while before going to bed at some early hour of the morning.  I’d hoped to finish it, but there was just too much left to do.  Either that, or the night was too short, one or the other.

Thursday was windier than ever.  Gusts of 50 mph were roaring around the eaves.  It was loud.  I hoped the house didn’t go to pieces; it sure was rattling.

A humongous roll of satin and lining fabric arrived – the fabric for Victoria’s two bridesmaids, junior bridesmaid, two candlelighters, flowergirl, and a couple of other attendants.  We’ll be making matching vests for the best man, groomsman, junior groomsman, and ringbearer, and maybe even ties.  She got all that fabric – 70 yards, total – for $285. 

This girl of mine found a picture of a bridesmaid dress she wants me to copy ... and a pattern that’s, uh, somewhat similar.  Does she think I’m one of the shoemaker’s elves?!

Have any of you ever noticed that when someone wants you to sew or quilt something difficult, they preface their request with the word ‘just’?  ‘Just’ put a pleat here, ‘just’ add a few gores to this skirt, ‘just’ make a more curved neckline, ‘just’ do a puffed overlay, ‘just’ make a totally different sleeve...  ’Just’.  ‘Just’ do it yourselves, then!!!!!!!! 

Well, that’s what I want to say to some people.  Victoria, having sewn a thing or two in her life, is a little more understanding.  But only a little.  I should be flattered to be thought of as a magician, I guess.

I will ‘just’ be thankful she found a readymade wedding gown for herself, and isn’t asking me to sew that.  I will just be thankful... I will just be thankful... I will just be thankful... I will just be thankful... I will just be thankful...

I keep telling myself, Those dresses won’t be as difficult as this Christmas tree skirt.  Those dresses won’t be as difficult as this Christmas tree skirt.  Vests are easy... ties aren’t hard...

The thing is, it’s a whole lot easier to fit a quilt to a bed than it is to fit a dress to a girl!

Oh! – I’ve just learned from Victoria that I will have more help than I expected.  Daughter-in-law Amy will make granddaughter Emma’s candlelighting dress.  Daughter Hannah will make granddaughter Joanna’s candlelighting dress.  Kurt’s mother Ruth will make Kurt’s vest and his sister Mary’s dress (she will be an attendant at the guestbook).  Daughter Lydia will make grandson Jacob’s vest (he’s the ringbearer).  And Victoria might order the dress for the flowergirl, readymade.  If even half of those come through, I’ll be relieved.

It was Josiah’s 6th birthday, so I took him a gift (a stuffed manatee, a National Geographic book about manatees, a little monkey light whose face lights up, and a small car) after they got back from Norfolk, where they’d gotten a new bicycle for Josiah and one for Ethan, too.  Ethan’s birthday is today.  Teddy and Amy managed to buy the bikes, load them into the van, and cover them with a blanket without either of the boys knowing it.  Teddy brought Josiah’s bike into the house while I was there.  High Excitement!

Little Warren came toddling through.  I put my hand on his head and said, “HI!!!”

He didn’t even turn around, just screeched happily in return, “HIII!!!!!”  haha

That night, I finished quilting the Christmas tree skirt and got the binding sewn onto one side.  Friday I folded it around to the other side, pinned it, and stitched it down.

Some friends, looking at a few of my vacation photos, were asking me about the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  I went up in it a looong, looong time ago, when the world was very young.  I was 12, and Loren and Janice took me there.  Loren stayed down below with their dog Bullet; I went up to the top with Janice.  Those little trams that one rides up in go along the curve of the arch, tilting, tilting, and then swinging back straight, then tilting, tilting again, and swinging back straight.  A plump lady seated opposite me shrieked every time the tram straightened.

I spent the entire ride biting my tongue... biting the insides of my cheeks... poking fingernails into palms... trying with all my 12-year-old might and main not to laugh.  Ever notice how, when you shouldn’t laugh, things are all the funnier?

But my Mama taught me to be polite, so I tried!  

Friday, I sewed the rest of the binding down.  Counting the slit and the little circle at the middle, it’s 315” around this thing.  I do it by machine.  I spend a good deal of time pinning, first.  I stitch in the ditch on the front, and I want the stitches on the back to catch the binding edge right at 1/16”.  So I try to pin with precision.  All the pins point outward.  Ergo, it’s like trying to sew a porcupine.  I need me a pair of chaps!  And metal filleting gloves.

I took a break to gather up some photo albums and books of Dorcas’ that I’d promised to send her.  They’re now packed and ready to mail – but the trouble is, the box is too heavy for me to lug to the post office, so I’ll have to wait until someone else can do it for me.

After finding a number of Dorcas’ things in a lidded bin, I wondered what was in another tote that had been just under hers.  I lifted the lid – and, lo and behold, there was Mama’s quilt.

The lost quilt has been found!!!

My mother gave me this quilt about 15 years ago.  It’s one that was made for her as a wedding gift in March of 1936.  It was given as only a ‘flimsy’ (they did that, years ago) ... and my mother had it hand-quilted by some ladies in a bee in Kansas in the early 60s.

I used it in a cute little camper Larry and I fixed up a few years ago, and after he sold the camper, I lost track of the quilt, and was so afraid it had been forgotten in the camper.

But here it is – and it was neatly folded with other bedding items, so I obviously did it myself, unless someone hired me a maid once upon a time without telling me.  ;-D

The quilt is made with the Three-Dimensional Dahlia pattern.  I was so surprised to see that, when my mother gave it to me, because it was the very pattern I used for the first pieced quilt I ever made, though the petals on mine are more gathered than they are on this one.  I liked the pattern so well, I used it at least four more times.

Trouble is, now I have to apologize to Larry for saying he sold it with the camper! 

Fortunately, I wasn’t real adamant about it, just in case.

After all, there was that one other time in my life that I forgot something... 

Upon learning about The Return of The Quilt, he wanted to know if I was going to be extra nice to him, since I’d thought he lost it.  So I gave him the last two banana nut muffins.  Reckon that was good enough? 

I finished putting the binding on late that night; it took longer than I’d expected.  I sewed one of my preprinted labels onto it, just to save time.  

We got a hard freeze that night, with the temperature dropping down to the mid 20s.

Meanwhile, it was 80° in Honolulu.  (I knew you’d want to know.)

Saturday, Larry cut down a couple of dead trees in the back yard. 

I made burgundy satin ties, sewed them on the edges of the slit in the Christmas tree skirt – and then it was done.

A friend wrote, “But if you put a tree on that, you’ll cover a lot of your beautiful work.”

“We’ll just have to use a lodgepole pine instead of a douglas fir!” I told her.

Actually, we have an artificial tree that doesn’t come so far down to the floor that it will cover the tree skirt.

I took Loren some supper – mixed vegetables, brussels sprouts, cherry jello, cranberry-orange muffins.  He didn’t want meat; he had some from Lura Kay. 

On the way home, I stopped and picked up some blankets at Amy’s house – wet blankets that needed to be spun and dried.  Her washing machine is refusing to spin.  That’s always a revolting development, especially when there are lots of little kiddos in the house – meaning, there are lots of clothes and bedding that need to be washed.  Teddy came for a haircut a little later, and took the blankets home with him.

I patched a pair of pants for Loren.  Having gotten into the patching mode, and having found a piece of fabric somewhat the right color, I proceeded to patch a couple pairs of pants for Larry, too.

Next, I machine embroidered a label for the Wedding Ring quilt Norma gave us for Christmas – the one that was made by her mother in about 1974.  I intended to also embroider a label for my mother’s quilt, but only got one label done on account of the thread – metallic Coats & Clarks – breaking so often.  Other people say it’s great thread – but I think this stuff must be old and brittle.  I put Sewer’s Aid on it... I loosened the tension... I used a metallic needle... all to no avail.  So I keep rethreading, telling myself, It’s faster and nicer-looking than if I was doing it by hand.  It’s faster and nicer-looking than if I was doing it by hand.  Arrgghh.

I think I’ll use this stuff up in the bobbin on projects where it won’t matter to have metallic thread, and I’ll use new embroidery thread or my fine, long-stapled quilting thread (such as Superior).  Even plain old Coats and Clark Dual Duty works okay, though it’s not glossy enough to suit me.

Hmmm... I just looked at my embroidery thread, and see that I have Isacord, Robison-Anton, Marathon, Madeira... and another set called Pacesetter, put out by Brother.  But I have spools upon spools of this metallic Coats and Clark, so I keep trying to use it up!  I hate to waste stuff.  I’m hoping to embroider some towels for daughter-in-law Maria’s sister Heidi, who’s getting married in June – but not if I have to rethread after every 100 stitches or so!

Larry took the Jeep to the shop to wash it, and brought home Schwan’s Golden Nugget bars.  I happily gobbled one down, of course, and promptly got a stomachache, as usual.

Some ladies were talking about ‘tattoos’ for sewing machines last week...  Well, get a load of this:

One lady thought it would be a nightmare to dust... another said, “Think canned air.”

One of my brothers-in-law inadvertently called it ‘canned dirt’ once upon a time, and we’ve all called it ‘canned dirt’ ever since, much to his chagrin. 

When Lydia still lived at home, I was forever mixing up her name and Victoria’s.  From the time they were little, I did that.  I usually caught myself mid-name, however.  So Lydia became VicLydia, and Victoria became LydVictoria. 

The most embarrassing name mix-up was the time I yelled in exasperation at Keith, “ALEUTIA!!!!”  (Aleutia was our big horse of a Siberian husky.)  Everyone burst out laughing.

Did you know, it’s hard – nigh to impossible, even – to gather the wind back into your sails after such a blunder, and shout “KEITH!!!!” with the same amount of gusto you exhibited the first time around?? 

Oh! – I just saw a little yellow butterfly out in the front yard!  First butterfly of the year – and it’s only 54° this afternoon, with 30 mph gusts.  Chillllleeeee.

And with that series of disjointed remarks and statements, I shall cease and desist.

Footnote:  Did you know that when you have a heater blowing at your legs... and you have a skirt on with metal rivets at a back slit... you have to be careful not to reposition yourself and sit on one o’ them thar rivets?

,,,>^..^<,,,     Sarah Lynn     ,,,>^..^<,,,