Last week one day, Levi texted, as he
periodically does, to ask, “How goes it today?”
“Dine and fandy!” I answered. “Except I’m working my way through some iced
caramel coffee that’s waaaay too strong. Gotta add more water!”
A minute later, I added, “There, that
fixed it. 🍺”
“Isn’t that a tankard of ale?”
inquired Levi. “See, it’s fizzing! Yipes!”
“No, no, no!” I retorted. “It’s Christopher Bean’s Caramel Macchiato
iced coffee! ’Cuz I said so!”
“Alright, then!” he responded quickly,
probably laughing as he did so.
“Coffee DOES fizz,” I told him
indignantly, “if you add water vigorously enough, with the faucet on full
blast.”
Last Monday evening, I could hear two
raccoons chirring – one in the middle of my sewing room ceiling. A mother raccoon (did you know they are
called ‘sows’?) has somehow gotten inside and had what sounds to be a couple of
babies. Larry has been trying to find
their point of entry, but has so far been unsuccessful. I heard an adult raccoon in the front yard,
so I opened the front door to listen and possibly determine where they are
getting inside – and got hit, ka-splat, by a June bug.
Now that’s just adding insult
to injury.
It rained Tuesday morning, and was
cold and windy – 53°, with a real-feel temp of 44°, and wind gusts up to 25
mph.
Hannah came visiting that afternoon. Their family is planning a vacation to the
Washington, D.C., area. Friends have
invited them to stay with them, and always refuse any monetary return. Hannah was wondering what she could give them,
and if she had time to make anything, when I suddenly remembered this beautiful
framed song with paper flowers hanging on my bedroom wall. She made it to display at my mother-in-law
Norma’s funeral in 2020, as I Will Sing the Wondrous Story was her
favorite song. After the funeral, Hannah
sent it home with me. A little dusting,
and it looks like new.
Hannah also mentioned that she needed a
rolling suitcase, as the zipper on hers had bitten the dust – and whataya know,
I had three of them, saved from Loren’s house when we cleaned it out. So Hannah has a like-new rolling bag, and I
have one less TIDN (Thing I Don’t Need).
By bedtime, I had 104 tall rectangular
patches added to all the two-piece units that make up the ‘Striped Grooves’
blocks for the next border of the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt, and 104
contrasting patches cut to add to the opposite sides of the units. (It makes sense, truly.)
I spent an hour and a half working in
the gardens Wednesday morning, and then worked on Lyle’s quilt until time for our
midweek church service. The peonies are
still going strong, and there are more blossoms on the Wild Prairie roses.
We had Panera Bread’s loaded potato soup that
night.
Thursday morning, I started a load of
laundry, and then worked in the flowerbeds for nearly an hour and a half before
getting rained out. The Double Knock-Out
roses are blooming.
It sure is hard to get a picture of red roses
that actually shows the true vibrancy of the color. I take my camera out with me when I work in
the gardens – which is another reason I really got in gear and hurried to put
things away and come inside when it started raining. I don’t want that camera to get wet!
After a shower and some breakfast, off I went
to the quilting studio.
That evening, Larry got videos of a mother
raccoon and two kits out in his building, scrambling about in the rafters and
staring curiously down at him. We were
hopeful that that meant they had exited the upper regions of the house, but by
10:00 p.m., it was clear the attic raccoons were still in residence.
I
finished putting together the ‘Striped Grooves’ blocks for the next border of the Wolves quilt,
and had all the separate units together for the corners.
Here’s
the clematis, looking droopy and bedraggled in the rain.
Friday morning, I washed another load of laundry, and then
it was done. Temporarily. Laundry is always temporarily done,
when it’s done. I have twice the amount
of clothes to wash, when I spend mornings working in the gardens. Another hour out there that morning, and I
finished weeding one large flower garden on the west side of the house.
The honeysuckle is in bloom! Amazing how such a tiny blossom can
smell so sweet. I have both white and
yellow honeysuckle.
There are a couple stands of milkweed that I let grow for the monarch butterflies. They have buds all over them now. (The milkweed; not the butterflies.)
That day, I learned from the Craft Industry
Alliance that the parent company of the Big Four sewing pattern brands, Simplicity,
Butterick, McCalls, and Vogue, had sold its U.S. division, IG Design Group
Americas, to Hilco Capital, a liquidation firm. DGA also owns other craft brands, including
Boye needles, Wrights trim, and Perler fusible beads, among others. Hilco has also been involved with liquidating
Joann Fabric’s assets after it filed for bankruptcy in January.
Over 50% of DGA’s products are manufactured
in China, although the sewing patterns are made in the U.S. The company mentioned a softening market over
the last several years, as well as the bankruptcy of Joann, as factors in the
sale.
DGA was sold to Hilco for a cash payment of
$1, plus 75% of any proceeds Hilco generates from future sales of the brands.
Now I’m
sorry I gave a big drawer full of my patterns to the Goodwill. I was cleaning out my brother’s house, and I
was heartily tired of ‘stuff’, so away went a bunch of patterns. I haven’t used any clothing patterns at all
since making the bridesmaids’ and candlelighters’ gowns for Victoria’s wedding,
and only a scattered few things for Victoria before that. I was going to take the last two big drawers
of patterns (they’re in a cabinet like the ones at Joann’s Fabrics), but was
already regretting my rash decision by the time I got home. I hope the bottom drawer of that cabinet had
my least favorite patterns,
and the top two have the ones I like better! 😕 I have purchased boxes of patterns both
vintage and new for very good prices on eBay.
The
following day, I was glad to read the news that Michaels has acquired Joann’s intellectual property and private
label brands, and plans to expand crafting supply to meet demand.
These
are the corner pieces for the next border for the Wolves’ Dream Catcher
quilt. But wouldn’t they make a pretty quilt, put together into blocks
like this? EQ8 labels these blocks ‘Striped Grooves Corners’. Each block measures 6 ½”. If sewn
together, they would make a 12” block.
I was
ready to attach the border to the quilt!
The windows in my sewing room were wide open,
and the birds were serenading me. Right that
minute, I could hear Eurasian collared doves, blue jays, house finches,
goldfinches, robins, Baltimore orioles, English sparrows, house wrens, European
starlings, and Common grackles. A couple
of robins were having a fuss in the mulberry tree out in the front yard.
It’s a huge tree, all full of not-quite-ripe berries, but they evidently don’t
believe there’s enough for the both of ’em.
A papa house finch brought his fledgling to
the feeders, and while Papa patiently and diligently cracked black-oil
sunflower seeds to feed his youngster, Baby set up a continued howl – er, squawk
– for more, more, more.
Baby cardinals, fledged a few days earlier, were
making their high-pitched, metallic cheeps, and young grackles were croaking
like bullfrogs. Sometimes a parent crams a bite down their gullets right
when they’re screaming for food. There’s a muffled squawk – and then the
screaming immediately reconvenes. “More! More! More!”
There was also a long trill of a bird I didn’t
recognize. Field sparrow? Possibly.
A papa English sparrow in the apple tree just
outside my sewing room window was being besieged by his three very young
fledglings as he worked furiously to catch insects and stuff them in those
gaping maws.
By 7:45
p.m., the last major border was on the Wolves’ Dream Catcher quilt, and only one
narrow, lighter blue border remained.
I got it
done by a quarter ’til eleven.
This is a peony that I separated from
a large plant and put in another flower garden. The blossoms of the original plant were all
pink. The blossoms on the transplanted
peony have white centers and pink outer petals.
A cousin commented, upon seeing
pictures of all the flowers, “The butterflies must be happy around your house,
and probably the bees too.”
“Yep, there are quite a few of both,”
I answered. “Not too many just yet,
though; but there’ll soon be more.”
“I have been stung by a few bees and
it doesn’t feel good,” she remarked. “I
am not outside a lot. I try to avoid
biting insects.”
I’ve been stung twice – once as a
child when I stepped on one running barefoot. (That is, I was barefoot; not the bee.)
(Actually, come to think of it, the bee
was barefoot, too.) The other time was as
an adult. We were in a tourist center by
the big Mackinaw Bridge leading to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and I was
wandering along the aisles looking at all the pretty books and postcards. The top of my head itched. I scratched it – and got bitten on the finger
by the bee that was in my hair. I hastily
brushed him onto the floor and squished him into the floor with a great deal of
animosity, vengeance, and spite. (Hope
nobody noticed that small tantrum.)
Here’s a Cabbage white butterfly.
Saturday,
I was glad to find that the backing I’d ordered for Lyle’s quilt was 108” wide
– plenty wide enough that I wouldn’t have to do any piecing. It did need to be ironed, though. Ironing a piece of fabric that’s 108” x 144”
on an ironing board – even if it is an extra-wide Rowenta ironing board
– is not exactly a picnic.
I loaded
it on the frame, discovered happily that I had enough Quilters’ Dream Wool
batting for this quilt, loaded it, and then put the quilt top in place and
rolled it onto the front bar. I chose
the thread, ordered some 40-wt. silver Omni thread I would be needing, threaded
the machine top and bobbin, and commenced to quilting.
Here’s a
progression from the light blue border and diamond halves to the dark
blue-violet diamond halves to the mottled dark blue stripes. At 9:30
p.m., I quit for the night, as I needed the abovementioned silver thread to
continue. It was scheduled to arrive today
– all 6,000 yards of it. That oughta be
enough, ay?
It was raining Sunday morning when it was
time to go to church. How did all the
umbrellas, save one, wind up in the car?
Fortunately, the one left in the house didn’t have any gaping holes in
it.
Larry fixed waffles for lunch when we got
home from church.
As promised, the silver thread came today. It was in the mailbox, over on the Old
Highway. I picked it up after taking
daughter Hester a gift for her birthday.
When I got to
Hester’s house, I showed her, Keira, and Oliver this picture of a car I’d taken
on the way.
“What kind of car
is it?” I asked.
Oliver took one
look and told us with a good deal of assurance, “That’s what you call a sportscar.” 😂
Hester grabbed a shot from my camera
screen, put it into her Identify app, and was promptly informed that the car
was a Corvette.
See, I can recognize Corvettes circa
1953 to 2000 or so, easy. But the newer
ones? I’m liable to think they’re
Lamborghinis or somethin’!
When I got home and was editing my
photos on my large laptop screen, I discovered that the letters spelling out ‘CORVETTE’
can be seen right under the center light string. I passed this information on to Hester.
“Lol!!” she responded, as Hesters are
wont to do. “It says it on the license
plate frame, too! And ‘Accelerate’ on
the plate. 😅”
“Sure enough!” I replied. “I hadn’t noticed the plate frame. And I pondered over the vanity plate – and
decided the guy’s name must be Axel Rate. (A bit too literally-minded, I am.)”
I’m editing pictures... and smiling at
my screen. The first shot shows Keira and Oliver
with the little bags of freeze-dried Apple Crisps I gave them.
In another picture, Oliver is
sitting on a Percy engine that his other grandpa made of wood. Oliver’s middle name is Percy, after his
great-grandfather.
Oliver always wants to see his
pictures after I take them. When he
looked at that one, he raised his eyebrows and said, “What’s that.” hee hee
I think he didn’t approve of his
not-smiling-very-much face, because in the next shot, he grinned
so big his eyes squinted shut.
In this photo, Keira is on her tree swing, wearing her Carmen Sandiego
carmine trench coat and red felt fedora.
She has an early computer game of “Where in the World is Carmen
Sandiego?” The first release was in
1985. And yes, the early games and
episodes are a whole lot nicer than the more recent ones.
Keira brought out the basket with the ‘Paper Dolls of Fabric’ to show me the basket Hester found for her to keep the dolls and clothes in. They fit so perfectly, you’d think the basket was especially made for that doll set.
Oliver informed me, “Those clothes come
off and stick back on with Velcro!”
Hester then told him, “Grandma sewed
all those dolls and clothes! She made
them herself!”
Oliver’s eyes got big, and then,
walking over and pointing at the items in question, he said to me in great
sincerity, “Grandma!! You made
these things!”
He’s so funny and sweet.
We went outside and looked at all the
pretty flowers in Hester’s yard. They
have such a lovely home.
Every time I made a move to walk
toward my car, or mentioned heading for home, Oliver hastily found something
else to show me – another flower, another tree, saying, “You’ll wanna take a
picture of that!”
It’s a nice feeling, ’tis, when
somebody doesn’t want you to go yet! ☺️
Oliver calls this giant stand of
giant-leaved hostas ‘the jungle’.
When he couldn’t find any more flowers
that I hadn’t already taken a picture of, he pointed out a whole flock of
mushrooms at the base of a big, old tree in the road verge (aka curb strip or
parkway or a host of other regional names describing the strip of grass between
the sidewalk and the street).
I showed him the mushrooms climbing up
the base of the tree. “These look like
little houses built right up the side of a mountain!” I told him.
He looked at me, looked at the
mushrooms, and bent low to peer under the mushrooms’ caps. Then he straightened back up and grinned at
me.
Reckon he expected to see little
people under those things?
A raccoon was on our back deck last night, chowing down on the bird seed.
Once my camera’s flash went off, though, she decided, “Okey-dokey, I’m
outa here.”
She paused on the second step to look
back at me. “You goin’ back inside so I
can finish my snack?”
I didn’t, so she bobbed on down the steps
and across the yard, pausing to look over toward the hostas and lilies, where
one of her babies was chirring.
One raccoon family can clear the
sunflower seeds out of a whole raft of feeders overnight. They’ll take the whole works, suet and all,
if I don’t bring in the feeders. The
only thing they don’t eat is Nyjer seed.
They don’t generally eat safflower seeds, either; but I don’t buy those,
on account of the price.
Wouldn’t you know, after taking
pictures of the raccoon, I forgot to take down the feeders. Fortunately, I have a couple of feeders that
are ‘raccoon-and-squirrel-proof’, and they didn’t get much of the seed in
those. You can see in that first photo
that the feeder nearest the raccoon is nearly empty, and the suet is plumb
gone.
A few minutes ago, I heard a baby raccoon chirring his lungs out in the front yard somewhere. I grabbed a flashlight and went to take a look. The poor little kit was under the chokecherry tree, screaming for his mother.
Where was his mother?! This is a very young baby. He barely knows how to walk yet – and still,
he tried climbing the side of the porch, evidently convinced we were part of
his family!
I took pictures and videos while Larry held a flashlight;
then we came back in the house, and shortly thereafter, we heard no more
screeches and chirs. His mother must’ve
found him. She was probably just waiting
until we went back inside the house; she surely had no trouble hearing him. That little critter is LOUD.
Bedtime! I need to do
a whole lot of weeding in the morning.
It’ll have to be early, because we’re expecting quite a warm day.
,,,>^..^<,,, Sarah Lynn ,,,>^..^<,,,
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