Journal: Birthday, Birthdays! (and Quilting, Of Course)

Last Monday was grandson Ian’s birthday.  He’s Jeremy and Lydia’s third child.  Late that afternoon, I sent Larry a note:  “Before you come home, could you pick up a toy for Ian?  He’s two today.  I already have a wooden puzzle for him.” 

I mentioned the child’s age, because Larry always has a tendency to choose something several years too old for the child.  Many’s the time I’ve told him, “The age listed on the box is usually just about right.”

“Okay,” Larry texted agreeably.

Two hours later, he sent this picture of a motorized minibike and a motorized Go Kart from Bomgaars, asking, “Would either of these work? 🤔”

I responded, “Bigger is better.”

Fortunately, what he actually brought home was this battery- and friction-run sanitation truck:

Last Sunday night after church, I helped Ian get his two littlest fingers squished down with his thumb, whilst the index and middle finger stood up (sort of) straight. 

“One, two!” I told him, counting them.  “That’s how old you’ll be!  One, two.”  He was giggling, working hard to keep those little fingers where they belonged.  Then he gave me one of his twinkly grins and said, “And cake!”

Hee hee  Yes.  “And cake.”

After working over the two-fingers thing, I used his fingers like valve keys on a trumpet, and ‘played’ him a lively song.  Doesn’t take much, and kids think Grandma is lots of fun!

Lydia made Ian a Poky Little Puppy cake, and there’s his stuffed puppy.  She even embroidered a Poky Little Puppy on his shirt pocket with the embroidery machine Jeremy gave her for Christmas.

Hannah has not been feeling well for quite a long time.  She went to Urgent Care Monday evening, and the doctor there made a guess as to what her problem is, after listening to her symptoms, which include sinus troubles, fever, migraines, sore throat, and so on.  He told her to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to verify what he thought.  She saw the specialist Thursday, and, after tests, the doctor told her she has polyps in the nasal passages, just as the Urgent Care doctor had surmised.  She’s on medication now that is supposed to reduce them, but there’s a probability she may need surgery to remove some.

Nasal polyps result from chronic inflammation due to asthma, recurring infection, allergies, drug sensitivity, or certain immune disorders.  Small nasal polyps may not cause symptoms, but larger growths or groups of nasal polyps can block nasal passages or lead to breathing problems, a lost sense of smell, and frequent infections.  It’s done that and more, to Hannah.

Breathing troubles, whatever the causes, are scary!  We worry about our children and grandchildren who have asthma.

Tuesday, one of my quilting friends, in asking me about various computer/internet issues, explained that she asks me these things ‘because you are a geek,’ said she.

A geek!  Many have thought it, few have actually said it.  Haha!

I take it as a bona fide compliment.  However, I imagine I only know a very thin skimming of the surface, when it comes to technology.  I have no idea under the sun how to create a program, for instance.  It’s enough effort, just figuring out how to use some programs.  😄

One of my friends was having a problem with her touchpad.  I told her how one can adjust the sensitivity of the pad, or move or change various functions (such as what occurs when one taps corners, or slides a certain number of fingers in specific directions).  I like my touchpad set with high sensitivity ----- but that isn’t so great, when I’m using it in Larry’s jouncy, bouncy pickup.  Why, I’ve purchased five Ferraris and three Bentleys before I even realized I’d gotten to the webpage!

The birds were all a-twitter around the feeders that day.  I heard a few that were considering starting up their early-spring warbles.  They’re jumping the gun a little, though; winter is certainly not over, around these parts!

Several people have asked about my sewing machines, wondering what kind I have, and if I like them.

My ‘new’ Bernina is 20-21 years old.  I’ve only had it about 6 ½ years, though; I bought it used.  It’s an Artista 180E, and was top of the line for several years.  I love it... and I would love a brand-spankin’ new one, even more.  heh 

I’m a Bernina snob, I guess.  I think their slogan is absolutely correct:  “Nothing runs like a Bernina.  Nothing.”  I’ve used other machines, but I’ve never found one that – in my most humble (or not-so-humble) opinion – can equal a Bernina.  They’re timed so precisely, the stitches are so perfect... the motor runs quietly and smoothly... and nowadays, the computerized models have multitudes of options and conveniences.  The new ones have bigger screens than mine, and they’re in color, too.  That would be a big advantage over mine.

I was so astonished when someone mentioned ‘poor reviews’ of Berninas online.  I looked for them... and sho’ ’nuff, there are bad reviews.  There are really good reviews, too, but not as many as I expected, though there are more good than bad.  I spotted someone’s comment that made me laugh:

“Whaaaaaaaa?!!!!!!!!!!  All these bad reviews!!!!  Where are these people COMING from?!!!!!!”  ((...pause...))  “Ohhhhhhh.  I get it, now.”  ((...another pause...))  “All those millions and millions of people who are totally delighted with their Berninas --------- are busy sewing.  MUCH too busy to be writing silly little reviews.” 

It’s true, unhappy people generally make more noise than happy ones. 

If you ever have a day where it feels like everything is going wrong, just watch a youtube video of Russian car crashes, and it’ll make you feel better, by comparison.  I think their cars come with a barrel of vodka in the trunk, and a drinking tube that travels right up to the driver’s seat.  Also, if they want brakes, they have to special-order the vehicle.  Few do.

Brains are not available in either case.  Nor are their pedestrians equipped with them.

Sometimes I show one of those videos to Larry.  He watches a while... gives the drivers instructions:  “A little more to the right... now to the left ------- okay!  Turn NOW!  Right in front of that --------”  

CRRRRASSSHHH 

Then he rubs his hands together and says gleefully, “Got ’im.”

It’s lots more fun to watch car crash videos with Larry.  🤣

What in the world?  I just noticed that on February 11, 32,587 people went to my Nature’s Splendor blog.  On the 12^th, it was 33,309!!!  On the 13^th, 5,308; the 14^th, 37; the 15^th, 27.  Wow, I was a one-hit wonder! – only I didn’t even know it, until it was over and done with.  That must’ve happened because of something I mentioned on one of the humongous Facebook quilting groups.

I made it to the halfway point of my customer’s New Year’s Eve 1999 mystery quilt that day.

That evening, we went to Jeremy and Lydia’s house to give Ian his birthday gift, and to share his ice cream and cake.  Kurt, Victoria, and Carolyn were there, too.

Little by little, Jeremy is getting their house done.  He’s quite an artist with wood, tile, ... anything.  Here’s a 3D inlaid wood star he put together just inside the front door:

Larry helped put the Kimball baby grand piano, the one that my father got for me when I was 13 years old, into position in the living room.  

Electronic piano in upstairs balcony

Kimball baby grand

Jeremy laid a section of wooden floor especially for it; pianos have a prettier reverberation on wood than on carpeting.  The electronic piano (shaped like a small baby grand) that they got when the Kimball was stored somewhere else is in the upstairs balcony, next to their big, new bedroom.

Babies Malinda and Carolyn were playing near each other -- separately, but side by side, as babies do.  You should’ve seen the expression on Malinda’s face when Lydia picked up baby Carolyn.  She popped her little thumb out of her mouth for a moment or two, and took a long, hard look at her Mama holding that little cousin of hers.  I’m pretty sure if she could talk, she would’ve said, “Hey, that’s not me you’re holding, now, is it??”

I wish someone would have been videoing when we were ready to leave their house, and I went to get my purse in the kitchen.  Ian was hunting for things to show me – anything! – with the express purpose of delaying my departure. 

So I held out my hand and said, “Well, I have to go.  Can you take me to Grandpa?”

He nodded quite seriously, got a grip on my little finger, and trotted off just as if I’d set him about a very important task, and marched me right straight to Larry.

Wednesday morning, Lydia sent a video clip of Ian playing with the wooden John Deere puzzle we’d given him – loaded into the back of a big John Deere dump truck.  😄

That night after our midweek church service, I finished quilting my customer’s quilt.  My machine went on working perfectly, all the way to the end.

Thursday, I packed the lady’s quilts into a box and headed to the post office to ship them back to her.  Would you believe that one not-too-awfully-big box (maybe 24” x 18” x 18”, as a rough guess) would cost $39.30 to mail?!  Granted, it weighed 13 lbs., 12 oz.  But... that’s a lot of money, to ship a box.

Next, I went to Hobby Lobby for buttons for the Baskets of Lilies quilt.  I also got a large watercolor set for a birthday gift for Victoria.

We got about an inch and a half of snow that evening.

Hannah called to tell me about her visit with the specialist.  The more she thinks about it, the more put off she is.  He started with a volley of questions – a ‘pop quiz’, as Hannah called it, ‘to see what she knows about asthma and allergies’, treating her quite as if she hadn’t a brain in her head.  “How would you define ‘wheezing’?” he asked.

She was sick... hasn’t been able to sleep well for days (weeks, months), and didn’t feel like answering all these questions.  When she politely said that she really couldn’t think of answers for all his questions, as she felt quite foggy (her oxygen level was a bit low), he told her she needed to see a psychiatrist!  The idiot had used a scope, and could clearly see what her problem was!

Some doctors are bullies.  Furthermore, know-it-alls never know half as much as they pretend to know, never mind what their exalted status in life might happen to be. 

At least there is consolation in the verse that says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

There are other specialists.  And at least Hannah now knows what the main problem is.

That evening and all day Friday, I made fabric yo-yos and sewed them onto the Baskets of Lilies quilt, after which I sewed on the buttons – 36 shanked buttons on top; 36 flat buttons on the back (to secure the shanked buttons).  By the time that was done, my fingertips were sore, sore, sore. 

I’d purchased three sizes of yo-yo makers, and used the largest, which makes 2 ⅜” yo-yos.  The smaller ones didn’t look right on such a big quilt.

I posted pictures on several quilting groups, including a shot of this roadblock over which I have to step in my quilting studio.

I truly have no idea why Tiger’s always been such a tub o’ lard; we give him diet food, and try not to give him too much, but he was fat even when he was a stray.  One lady wrote, “Are you sure he didn’t eat the dog?  Has anyone seen Fido?”  Hee hee

Tiger’s so funny.  He can be sound asleep in a far corner of the house – but if he hears Larry and me talking together, he comes hurrying to do figure eights around our ankles, his low-pitched rumble-purr in full gear.  He obviously considers conversation to be a friendly noise, and immediately gravitates to it.  He even does it when I talk on the phone.  I pace when I’m talking, and that silly cat paces with me, often cutting suddenly right square in front of me, staring up into my face, purring away.  He has no idea under the sun that if he trips me up, we’re both in jeopardy.  (Or maybe he does, but knows that I’ll then offer him all sorts of sympathies and consolations, making it well worthwhile.)  When I’m trying to load a quilt on the frame, trotting back and forth from one side of my quilting studio to the other, Tiger trot-waddles with me, in front of me, beside me...  If I stop, he rushes in front of me, leans against my legs, and peers up at me with his piercing gaze, clearly wanting to know, “Do you love me???”

People had been mean to him before he came to us.  I can never understand how they could do that, to such a nice kitty.  He has the sweetest disposition.  Amazing, that an animal can be so loving when I know good and well he was badly mistreated.  I don’t feel aggravated toward him when he gets in my way; he makes me laugh.  😊  😍

I follow a quilter on Instagram who has a couple of computer-driven Gammills in his studio.  He churns out – get this – anywhere from 3 to 6 quilts every day.  😲

I’d like to sneak a camera into his studio, set it up in the morning, and let it go all day.  I wanna know what he does whilst his machines are chugging away at those quilts!  Maybe he just leans back and sips from a steaming mug of coffee, only getting up to roll the quilts forward now and again?

The computerized program for my machine is $10,000.  😲  Therefore, I move my machine by hand.  I do love my new machine.  I just learned that instead of the 1,800 stitches per minute I thought it could go, it’s 2,200 spm!  That’s pretty fast. 😊  My HQ16 could only go 1,100 spm.

A friend of mine who lives in Colorado lost a big, beautiful cat over a year ago.  She figured a fox had killed him.  He was gone for a year and two months – and then about six weeks ago, there he was sitting at her patio door meowing and crying!  His three sisters accepted his return like he had never been gone.

“Don’t things like that make you wish the animal had a teeny, tiny camera on him somewhere, and you could download the video from the last year, and just watch?” I asked.

Friday, Dorcas sent video clips and pictures of Trevor playing with the mixer truck and wooden puzzle we sent him for his 2^nd birthday.  He’s a week younger than Ian.

Saturday, February 24^th, was Victoria’s 21^st birthday.  My baby is 21, imagine that!

It was sooo pretty that morning, with new-fallen snow stuck to all the trees and fences.

On one of the online quilting groups, someone posted the following:  “Typical longarm quilting machine question:  I put the thingamabob inside the whatchamacallit, turned the doohickey, and the wuteveritis still doesn’t work.  Any ideas?”

People promptly chimed in with the answers:

First Answer:  “Duct tape.”

#2:  “Try wiggling the whosamawhatchit.”

#3:  “Don’t forget to check that the doomagatchi is plugged into the other thingamabob.”

And then Debbie Downer comes along:  “Maybe I’m just in a recurring bad mood but I’m so tired of people’s questions not being clear.  It’s not like everyone reading the question has time to ask the 4 or 5 questions needed to clarify the problem.  And then there’s the typo’s.  My goodness!”

I wanted to write back and correct her typo – that apostrophe in the word ‘typo’.  It’s a plural, not a possessive, for pity’s sake.  Furthermore, since it was supposed to be a plural, the linking verb should be ‘are’, not ‘is’ (seen in the contraction ‘there’s’).

Along comes Obdulia Obvious:  “LA’s (longarmers) are a wonderful group we all speak and understand the same language” 

(Even if there’s no punctuation, right?)

Next, I was reading through a few posts on a Facebook quilting group.  There are thousands and thousands (and thousands) of members in the group, so things can be a bit impersonal – but that’s no excuse for being downright rude.  One can hurt another’s feelings, even if one doesn’t know the other.

Here’s what I read:

One lady was having a bit of trouble with her longarm – which by coincidence is the very machine Larry gave me for Christmas.  She mentioned that the majority of the problems occur when she moves her machine in a northwesterly direction (as one stands from the front of the machine), especially with a particular type of thread.  This is a fairly common problem with any mid-to-longarm machine, and has to do with the direction the bobbin race turns compared to thread tension compared to quilt tension on the frame compared to needle flex, et cetera. 

(That’s a simplified explanation, but if I try to get any more specific and complex, I’ll reveal my ignorance on the subject.) 

Several people responded with a variety of helpful advice – and then one wrote something on this order:

“I have a new 26” Gammill Vision with the Statler computerized system.  I can put any type or weight of thread on my machine and move it in any direction, either manually or by computer, and never have the slightest problem at all.  Why would you even have a machine that won’t do that??”

My parents would’ve disowned me, maybe even from the grave, if I talked to anyone like that – especially someone who is having troubles and asking for help!  The setup that snotty woman owns has a price tag of about $32,000.  Mere pocket change, right?

Here’s one of the more famous quotes in history (probably attributed to the wrong person):  “At some point around 1789, when being told that her French subjects had no bread, Marie-Antoinette, bride of France’s King Louis XVI, supposedly sniffed, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.”  (“Let them eat cake.”)

(It was more likely Marie-Thérèse, the Spanish princess who married King Louis XIV in 1660, who said that.)

If some poor person is having engine problems with his Ford Fiesta, should we look down our noses and ask, “Why ever why won’t you just get an Escalade?!”  Or if you spot someone in the grocery store picking up a package of generic hotdogs, carefully checking the price, do you march up and say in your haughtiest tone, “The filet mignon is right over there.” (pointing an arrogant finger)

When I was four years old and heading off to Sunday School for the first time, my mother said to me, “Whatever you do, don’t ever, ever look at anybody else’s coloring and act like yours is better.”

I thought, A great big four-year-old girl knows better than that! – but I’ve remembered her admonition well, all these years ------ and tried to teach it to my own children as well. 

At least there were plenty of nice people doing their bestest to help the lady with longarm troubles, and nobody else answered Ms. Hoity-Toity.  Sometimes, the least said, the soonest mended.  You could waste your entire life’s precious seconds/minutes /hours, having scuffles and ka-fuffles on the Internet – and to what purpose?  I prefer to only argue in those venues wherein I am assured of having the last word.  (Or wherein I am close enough to the villain to box his or her ears.) 

That afternoon, I pulled out my Letraset ProMarker dye pens, and painted a few of the appliquéd petals that didn’t quite have enough contrast.  Can you tell which petals are painted?

Next, I made an embroidered quilt label and handstitched it to the back of the quilt – and then it was done.

I plan to enter it in our State and County Fairs before I give it to Todd and Dorcas.  It’s for their next anniversary, which is in October.

I might have the quilt appraised, too, so they can add it to their home insurance policy.  It will probably be appraised at $3,000-$4,000, judging by other quilts I’ve had appraised. 

If you don’t have an appraisal for a quilt, and something happens to it, you’ll get no more from your insurance company than it would cost to replace it with a blanket from Wal-Mart.  With an appraisal, you’ll get the entire amount.

My brother Loren brought me his late wife Janice’s foot pedal – she had the same machine as my older Bernina, the 830 Electronic Record.  You’ll recall I tried to use it a couple of weeks ago, and it quit?  I gave the pedal a try — and my machine worked perfectly.  Yaaayyy, it was only the pedal, not the machine!  I thought so, but it was good to know for sure.  I looked for one online, but only found generic ones. They’d probably work all right; and they are brand new.

The 830 Record was the top-of-the-line machine in 1978, and for ten years.  It still sews beautifully, and the motor purrs quietly.  I clean and oil it and use it now and again, in order to keep it that way.

A couple more inches of snow fell that evening.  Hundreds and hundreds of Canada geese flew low over our house, their wild calls drifting for miles across the hills.

Guess what?!  (Did you guess?)

Larry used his handy-dandy little pocketknife/file set on my foot pedal, filed the connectors on the rheostat, hooked them back up ------ and it works like a million bucks.  Or at least like several hundred bucks.  As Lydia said when she was two, “My Daddy can fix anything.”

Yesterday afternoon, I put my camera on the tripod, positioned it in the snowy back yard, and then set the shutter on ten-second delay (which is as long a delay as possible).  Then I stood on the deck, one story up, with the Baskets of Lilies quilt lopped over the railing.  Larry pressed the button on the camera, then came dashing through the snow in a one-hoss open sleigh ----- no, wait.  He came rushing through the snow drifts, up the steps to the deck, where he grabbed one corner of the quilt and helped me hold it as it hung down. 

The camera clicked.  We draped the quilt over the railing and trotted down to the camera to see what the picture looked like, readjust the angle if necessary, and take another shot.

By the time we had half a dozen pictures or so, we were well-exercised and snowy of the hoof.  But we did get a few decent shots.  More photos here.

The quilt measures 115” x 115”.

Kurt and Victoria invited us over after church last night.  They gave us some of their Sunday afternoon meal – venison (I didn’t even know that’s what it was – I thought it was extra-tender beef roast), baked potatoes and carrots.  Mmm, mmm. 

We played with Baby Carolyn for a bit before Victoria tucked her in bed, and then we headed for home.

My word, a squirrel out in the maple tree has been scolding so loud and long, he’s going to need a cup of Slippery Elm tea for a sore throat!

Snow geese by the hundreds flying over, sparkling in the sun.  I grabbed my 300mm lens, put it on the camera, dashed to the door...  The camera wouldn’t focus.  I switched it to manual focus.  By then the snow geese had nearly all gone over the house toward the south; I didn’t get a single shot. 

Then suddenly I spotted a bald eagle, soaring low over the hill from the north, heading my way.  I focused on him... pressed the shutter button --- but nothing happened.

That’s when I remembered:  I had the camera set on 10-second delay from when Larry and I took pictures of the Baskets of Lilies quilt yesterday.  Bah, humbug.

I reset the camera as I scurried through the house to the back deck.  The bald eagle was long gone, nowhere in sight.  The snow geese were quite some distance away by then, but I got a few shots, and took a couple of the moon, for good measure. 

Since it was over 50°, I opened the front door and slid the window down a bit, so I would hear any geese that might fly over again.

It wasn’t long before several flocks did fly over – first more snow geese, then Canada geese.  This time, I got several decent pictures.  But I never saw the eagle again.

Now I shall get back to working on the Americana Eagle quilt.

(Oh, the painted petals are the ones with the brighter greens and pinks.)

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