Trip to Grand Island, & Cutting Satin

Our weekly ‘Winding Thread’ topic on the online quilting group of which I am co-owner was as follows:  What’s your favorite type of seam ripper – U-shaped with a little ball on the bottom... scythe... snips with a cutter at the back...  Is there a brand you prefer?  Where do you get it, and what does it generally cost? 

I like fancy-schmancy little seam rippers.  I don’t like to rip things out, but I like fancy seam rippers!  :-D

I have a number of cheapies – both U-shaped and scythe – and probably the one I use most often is my U-shaped Bernina-brand seam ripper.  I got one when I got my first Bernina, back in 1978 (that Bernina is still going strong, by the way, with as perfect of stitches as it had the day I bought it, with some of my first few paychecks at age 17) --- and the Bernina seam ripper stayed sharp while the cheapies grew dull.  Then our little Calico Kitty batted it down a heating vent – and there it still lies, probably.  ;-)

Last year when I was picking up some of those Row by Row patterns, I spotted a Bernina seam ripper at a Bernina Store and bought it – even though it was $10.  And it’s just as sharp as I remember the first one being.

I have some cheapie scythes... and a couple of really nice ones with exchangeable blades – thin, thick, curved, straight.  One is Claus Titanium... the other is...  ?  I particularly use them when removing quilting stitches (not the easiest thing to do).  I have a pair of snips/rippers that I keep handy at my quilting frame, and use them for every thread jump, plus they have a long ‘tooth’ that works great for pulling out a stray stitch now and then.  (I never make ‘stray stitches’, huh-uh, nosiree; it’s the quilting gremlins who do it, it is.)

Now.  What I really want to know is...   Here’s this die-cast aluminum with chrome-over-nickel finish scythe ripper from Gingher ... retractable blade – and the blade is advertised as ‘lifetime’.  It’s ergonomically balanced, and comes in a nice case.  So tell me this:  if the blade is ‘lifetime’, then why do the sets come with replacement blades?

Never mind explaining that to me; I do understand that blades can get damaged.  Husbands will use them to take apart carburetors.  Sons might decide to use them to pry open their iPods.  Still... when a product is billed as “Totally Indestructible!!!”  “Lasts Forever!!!”  “No Need to Ever Replace!!!” ---- it’s funny when it comes with replacement parts. 

By the way... I don’t have one of those Gingher rippers; they cost $30.  They are no longer being made, and every place I can find them, they are out of stock.

Here, maybe you’d like to try this:  Peggy’s Cordless Stitch Eraser, just $79.95:

Well, that was a heavy tome, and on seam rippers, nonetheless.  If someone would just pay me for all my blither, why, I’d ... I’d... I’d buy a cordless electric stitch eraser!

Our first-grade teacher used to read to us... stop abruptly at a particularly on-the-edge-of-your-seat point... and say, “Now finish the story!”

Oooooo, I loved that.  I wondered what ailed all those other kids who were moaning and groaning over the assignment.  This was better than recess!  I couldn’t nearly write fast enough to keep up with all the ideas churning in my brain.  And now I write about seam rippers.

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered good-quality tea towels for embroidering, at a good price:  www.acshomeandwork.com

I placed my order August 2.  The status never changed from ‘Processing’ to ‘Shipped’, so I wrote to inquire.  I received a polite email informing me that they process their orders consecutively, and mine was queued to go out – get this:  August 22.  That’s 20 days, from date of purchase to date of shipping!  I wrote the following to a lady at the ACS Home & Work Co.:

“Thank you for your answer.  That’s a very long wait! – 20 days from date of order to date of shipping.  If that’s normal, I will have to look for another place to buy.  I’m sorry.”

Well, guess what?  I soon got a notice saying that my order had shipped, six days sooner than expected.  They got here in three days, shipped priority mail.

Sooo... if you order from the company, pay attention to the ‘Processing’ versus ‘Shipped’ status, and write to ask about it.  I should have done so sooner, and perhaps I’d have gotten quicker service.  Not that I have time to embroider at the moment.

I’ve been vacillating between cutting out dresses for the wedding and finishing the Buoyant Blossoms quilt.  “I have to cut dresses!”  “No, I have time to finish the quilt.”  “But the dresses need to be done!”  “But I don’t want the quilt squished on the quilt frame bars any longer than necessary.”  (You know which I’d rather do.)

I’d finally decided, “Well, the quilting is going quickly enough, I can finish it first.” 

But then came this thought:  “Oh!!!  I have to cut that fabric ---- and then give the bolts to Katie so she can get started!”  Katie is our niece who is making daughter-in-law Maria’s dress and her sister Amanda’s dress; they are both bridesmaids.

So that was the deciding factor.  I had to cut those dresses next.

But first, I needed to add crystals to the Mosaic Lighthouse quilt.  Some had fallen off in its excursions to the quilt show in Daytona Beach, Florida, and to the Platte County Fair.  I also needed to fix the Chopkey hexagon origami pillow, which was a bit too squishy.  The quilt and pillow had to be taken to the Exhibit Hall at the Nebraska State Fair Thursday.  Larry planned to take the day off and come with me.

Victoria has been addressing her wedding invitations, making favors boxes, and a tall tiered-cake look-alike that’s a card box.  So many little details... and most of those little details involve $$$$$$$.  Some things are traditional... some things are necessary... some things are done just because the last twenty brides did it... some things are frivolous and entirely unnecessary.  We’re trying not to spend any more than is really necessary – with a few frivolous fripperies thrown in, just to make things pretty.

I tell her, “Never mind ‘what the last twenty brides did’!  We’ll just do what we can in an ‘etiquette-correct’ manner, and not worry about the rest.”

Did you ever notice how, if enough people do a certain thing, it becomes ‘proper etiquette’ in others’ eyes, whether it’s truly proper or not?  It would really enlighten people, if they’d look up ‘proper wedding etiquette’ and just do a little reading.  Read what was considered proper protocol and good manners from, oh, say, 50-60-70 years ago, rather than some of today’s goofy advice.  I don’t think very many people would disagree with me if I say today’s manners have sunk to new lows.

Most people know that you are NOT supposed to match the bride.  But did you know you also aren’t supposed to match the bridesmaids?  That’s true; look it up.  I remember my mother often asking the bride’s mother what her wedding colors would be – just so we wouldn’t wear the same color. 

“We don’t want to look like we think we should be in the wedding party, too!” she told me. 

My mother was a lady.  When it came to manners, I listened to her.

Ahem.

Most of the time.

I told Victoria, regarding a few of the details she’s doing differently, “Don’t worry about it!  And don’t apologize to anyone.  Act knowledgeable.  Most who think they know etiquette... don’t, anyway.”

“They’ll think I’m right and everyone will do it this way from now on,” answered Victoria, laughing.

Having said all that, I suppose we should now be cautious that we don’t inadvertently make some major faux pas?

We had enough rain last Monday to make the flowers bloom and the weeds grow tall.  My dozens and dozens of hostas – those with the light-green veined leaves with the big white blossoms – are in full bloom.  They smell like a combination of lily-of-the-valley and lilacs.  The bumblebees are delighted.  The lavender-blossomed hostas with the white-edged leaves bloomed a couple of months ago.

Tuesday evening, I went to Hobby Lobby to get those Hotfix crystals to put on the Lighthouse quilt.  As I drove there, I thought, This time, I’ll get the real Swarovski crystals; they’re so much prettier! – and then when I got there and looked at them, I saw that there were only 30 in each little box, and they were $4.99 a box.  The ‘Glamour Glitz’ crystals, on the other hand, while not nearly so sparkly, are $2.99 for 112 pieces.  Sooo... Glamour Glitz it is.  I added 336 more crystals:  112 in aquamarine, 112 in sapphire, and 112 in aurora borealis.

You know, if I ever do another mosaic quilt with small squares, I’m going to paper-piece it instead of putting the squares on gridded fusible Pellon.  Why didn’t I think of that?

Answer:  Well, because Eleanor Burns taught the gridded fusible Pellon way, that’s why.  ’Course, her project was only a small wallhanging, too.

Sigggggghhhhhhhh...

Paper-pieced would be better.  Less thickness... lighter weight... and I wouldn’t have wound up with one section ten inches (10 inches!!!) shorter than the other, just because each of the 180 seams were about 1/16” deeper than the other section.  Remember all those seams I had to take out?  Ugh.

((...considering...))  Do they make printable paper that would dissolve, so one wouldn’t have to remove it from all those little squares and triangles?  ((...looking...))

Yes!  They do!  Sulky sells paper Solvy.  How ’bout that.

Next, I restuffed the origami pillow that won State Fair choice.  It’s one of the pillows that coordinates with Andrew and Hester’s Graceful Garden quilt.  The poor pillow was too limp.  So... I restuffed it.

Now... let’s hope the judges like well-stuffed pillows better than limp pillows!  If any of the judges from the Platte County Fair have been recruited to judge things at the Nebraska State Fair, I wonder if they’ll stare at that pillow and think, There’s just something, ... different ... about that thing.

Remember the story of Pollyanna, when Nancy and Pollyanna were delivering charity baskets?  Well, I feel just like Mrs. Snow did when she had her heart set on lamb’s broth, and Pollyanna and Nancy gave her calf’s foot jelly.

That, because I ordered Orange Lavender soap, and what did I get?!  I got Rose Sandalwood soap, that’s what!

But I also got a set of hand-knitted bootie-socks from Wal-Mart online.  They’re all colors of the rainbow, striped, with three little knit flowers on the outside of each ankle.  They’re soooo soft, and they aren’t tight around the ankles (can’t stand socks that are tight around the ankles).  These are acrylic.  I’d prefer soft wool... but this is what they had, and they do feel quite nice.

Sooo... ‘learn to knit’ keeps its place, way down at the lower end of my long To-Do list.

Our apple tree has quite a few apples on it.  They’re still a bit green, but I ate one last week, and it was mmmm, good.

My favorite trees are the ones that blossom.  I generally like the colorful ones the best, but then the linden trees bloom, and mmmmmmmm, do they ever make the countryside smell good.  I love magnolias... but my favorite, I think, is the jacaranda, with its lavender flowers.

I tried growing one once, back when the world was very, very young; but it croaked.  Maybe I didn’t know it needed to be watered?  Or maybe I drowned it?

Wednesday, I began cutting satin, lining, and chiffon.

There’s a problem with big marble tables.  And that is this:  When I’m ready to use it for cutting, and there’s an assortment of jetsam and flotsam on it, it’s altogether too heavy for me to lift one end and clear the thing off!  heh

That night after church, I doled out bags filled with gazillions of hollyhock seeds to the kids.  Loren had harvested them from his large crop of hybrid hollyhocks.  I’m going to plant mine early next spring; there will be more viable seeds than if I plant them now, as a harsh winter can kill off some of them.  In a couple of years, Loren’s hollyhocks will have offspring all over town!

I got up before 6:00 a.m. Thursday morning to get ready for our trip to Grand Island with quilt and origami pillow – and learned that my chauffeur had to go work on his truck instead.  Some hydraulic hoses had broken the day before... which meant, of course, that he had known all along we couldn’t leave early in the morning.  He hadn’t told me, evidently imagining that it would take me four or five hours to get ready, at which time he would be home and ready to go, himself.

It took me an hour and 15 minutes.

Larry, on the other hand, didn’t get home when he expected to, because after he got to work, coworkers called to ask him to haul forms hither and yon to various jobs where they needed them.

I spent the morning and early afternoon quilting, since I didn’t have all the measurements I needed to finish cutting the satin dresses, nor did I want to get interrupted in the middle.  Did you ever look at quilting designs, and your eyes saw an optical illusion, so that instead of puffy feathers, you saw them as concave, with the thread standing up in tall relief?  Another view might take away that illusion, and then when you look back at the first shot, it’ll look as it should, with puffy feathers.  And many times your eyes won’t bring back that concave impression at all.  Funny, the way we see.

Shortly after noon, I heard the FedEx man knock and then put a box in the door.  It was the wedding gift I’d ordered for Kurt and Victoria – a Shark Professional vacuum!  I sent Victoria a note, telling her she could have it now rather than later, since they have white carpet in their house, and all the hauling in of furniture and belongings was making a vacuum a necessity.

Finally deciding I’d better just go to Grand Island by myself, as it takes over an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, I turned off my quilting machine, came upstairs – and Larry got home.  By the time he changed clothes and was ready to go, it was almost 20 ’til 2.

The Exhibit Hall closed at 3:00 p.m.  We got there at 3:02 p.m. 

The doors were locked.

Larry, who can be a clown even in times of dire distress, pulled and tugged, hopped up and down, stuck out his bottom lip, said, “Waaa waa waa!” and then whipped around and headed for another door.  Any other door. 

But... there were windows in the door.  While they looked dark to us, and we couldn’t see in, I’m sure those inside could see out – and they doubtless saw all those antics.

The door opened, and the lady who stood there was grinning at us.

She let us in... took the quilt... checked the paperwork... and another lady called the Textile Arts building to let them know we were coming – that was where I had to take the origami pillow.

I discovered I couldn’t enter the table topper, placemats, etc., as I hadn’t sent in any entry papers ahead of time.  I’ve only entered a quilt in the Nebraska State Fair once before, so I don’t know the procedures.  I had found an online pdf with rules and guidelines for entering things in the fair, but it was 23 pages long.  Did someone expect me to actually read that thing??!  :-D

Anyway, now I know, so if I want to enter things next year, I can.

They might’ve let me fill out the papers, had we not been so late.  I tried to put Larry in the doghouse and make him stay there the rest of the day, but he kept yipping mournfully and looking at me with those green puppydog eyes of his.  Plus, he bought me raspberry chocolate-chunk soft-serve ice cream, and, later, a roast beef Subway sandwich with everything on it.  Everything.

What was I to do?

After leaving Grand Island, Larry and I drove to Sherman Lake, out in the Sandhills.  It was a beautiful day, but hot – 96°.

We drove all the way around it, stopping here and there to explore the shorelines and look at the homes built along the bluffs.  At one of the coves, we found a long, knotted rope hanging from a high branch in a huge old cottonwood tree, dangling over a hollow. 

Larry clambered down the steep bank into the basin.  We could see that sometimes the water came quite a ways farther into the bowl than it was at the moment. 

He looked at the rope.  He tugged at it.  He let it swing free... then walked on down the shoreline.

I had on my big lens, and couldn’t even get all the root system in the frame from where I was standing, let alone the whole tree with the lake in the background.  And I knew what was going to happen next. 

I scampered pell-mell back to the Jeep for my smaller lens.

I snatched it... changed lenses... turned to rush back over the hill to the big cottonwood – and saw the rope jerk, then swing.  I dashed to the side of the hollow and started snapping pictures.

Yep, I knew Larry couldn’t help himself; he just had to try out that rope swing.  (No, he didn’t drop off into the lake.)

By 7:45 p.m., we were back in Loup City, population 1,020.  That’s a ‘city’, all right, by Sandhill standards.  Nearby Ashton has a population of 192; Rockville, 105; Litchfield, 259; Hazard, 69; and Arcadia (where we got our blue spruce trees a year and a half ago), 306.

We went to the Subway for supper.  I got roast beef on a 9-grain toasted bun, with everything, including jalapeño and banana peppers and pepper jack cheese, on it.  I always get jalapeño and banana peppers and pepper jack cheese on Subway sandwiches, no matter what sandwich I start out with.  And the Subway Sandwich Artists (really!  That’s what they’re called!  I looked it up.) – anyway, the Chow Slap-Togetherers always look up quickly and ask at least twice, “Are you sure you want these peppers?  They’re hot!”

What, do they think little white-haired granny-type people can’t contend with hot stuff?!  Do I look like a sissy to you?!!

By the time we left Subway, it was getting dark.  We came up over a hill, crossed a bridge over a creek – and there was a doe, smack-dab in the center of our lane.

Larry hit the brakes.  We had time to stop, if need be, but the deer finally wheeled gracefully about and headed back the way she had come, into the ditch on the right.

And then we saw them:  two small fawns, who had evidently been following her.  She had stopped when she heard us top the hill, thereby keeping her fawns from crossing the road behind her, and perhaps getting hit.

Several miles farther on, we saw a big, majestic buck standing in the ditch, large velvety antlers rising high above his head.  This time, Larry hit the horn. 

The buck didn’t even flinch, just turned his head regally and gave us a cool stare.

The next morning, I pulled up news and the funnies to read while I curled my hair – and found Calvin, of Calvin & Hobbes fame, swinging on a rope, too:

I set about editing my pictures.  One featured a snazzy little Mini Cooper.  I’d laughed as I took the shot, telling Larry, “In lieu of the ORT (Obligatory Red Truck), I present...  the mini Coop.”

It was bright red, with stripes on the hood, and up and over the top.

A few red things amongst the pictures jazz up a set of photos quite nicely.

I cropped – then suddenly zoomed in on the face of the lady in the passenger seat.  Whoooaaa, there’s a scowl and a half.  More of a glower, really.  Mah woid.  I don’t believe she approved of me taking her picture.

Or maybe she was just squinting into the sun.  Maybe she’d made that face once too often as a child, and it had stuck that way?

Ah, well.  Those candid shots taken without warning can be startling.  I’ve always been about as photogenic as a Mongolian yak.  This tendency does not get better with age.

More pictures from our trip are here.

I got the rest of the measurements I needed that afternoon, and went back to cutting out wedding attire.

That evening, Larry and I took Jeremy and Lydia their anniversary gift.  First, we got a loaf of French bread at Hy-Vee.  I spotted a loaf of jalapeño bread, too, and had to have it.  Mmmm, I love that stuff.  I put the French bread and the set of six machine-embroidered towels (watering cans, sunflowers, teapots) into an oblong galvanized tinplate bucket.  We visited with them and the little boys for a while, though it was rather late.

I spent Saturday cutting out the rest of the dresses for the wedding.  There are still a few pieces of ruffled lining I need to cut.  The candlelighters’ dresses are totally lined; the bridesmaids' dresses are partially lined.

Last night after church, Larry and I went to Wal-Mart to get plum-colored thread – and discovered Wal-Mart is now selling Gutermann thread in addition to the standard Coats and Clark.  I found plum-colored Gutermann... but each spool holds only 150 yards of thread.  There were only three spools in exactly the right color.  There was also a darker plum – not perfect, but at least it didn’t clash.  I got three of those, too... and the one and only Coats and Clark dark plum. 

Larry got a new tire and tube for his bike, and put them on it (in the house) when we got home, then headed off on a bike ride.  He went 20.1 miles, averaging 17.4 mph.  It took him 1.09.36 hours.  The wind was gusting, so he couldn’t go quite as fast as usual.  He likes the new tube and tire well enough that he wants to get a matching set for the front. 

At a quarter after four this afternoon, I put a chunk of roast beef and some carrots into the cute little casserole dish Caleb and Maria gave me for Christmas, sprinkled the meat with Weber Steak ’N Chop Seasoning, Schilling Celery Salt, Spice Islands Crushed Sweet Basil, and sea salt, and slid the dish into the oven.

I hunted high and low... and then I hunted low and high – even looked in the freezer for a bag of fire-roasted vegetable blend from Schwan’s that I could steal potatoes out of – and it seems we haven’t a tater in the house.

But!!!—I do have Hungry Jack potato flakes and country gravy mix.  So... Hungry Jack it is.

Then I rescued a young finch from that monster of a cat Teensy, who’d brought it jubilantly into the house to play with.  I thought it was a goner, but I carefully picked it up with a soft paper towel, carried it outside, and while I was standing there looking at it, debating where would be the best place to put him, he gathered his wits together, looked around – and suddenly flew off.

I always tell myself, He’s fine now; he’ll soon be hale and hearty.  And I don’t go looking for it later.  :-O

It’s so difficult, when we have it in our hearts to rescue the entire world’s fauna population! 

Friday morning, Victoria posted this picture, set into an app that is counting down the time until their wedding.  That was three days ago, so it should now say “2 months and 8 days.” 

Aauugghh, I should be sewing!  Rrrrright nnnnnowwww!

And so I shall.

Just as soon as I pour myself a new cup of coffee...  This, Amaretto by Christopher Bean, almond-flavored.

Daddy used to let me taste his coffee.  We called it ‘coffee soup’ because he put so many things into it.  

It smelled good.

The taste... well, that was something else, entirely.

To the sewing machine!  To the sewing machine!

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