Journal: Labels, Baby Things, and Photo Editing

Last Monday, a friend, upon seeing pictures of the quilt labels I’d done, inquired as to just exactly how it was that Grandpa Winings’ sister, Lillie, was married to his brother, Frank. 

Aauugghh!  My machine left off ‘in-law’!  It was supposed to read ‘sister-in-law’!  I distinctly remember inputting ‘sister-in-law’, too, as I have to scroll down quite a ways on my machine’s screen to get to the hyphen. 

That machine is becoming a problem child!  It drops letters and words... and the screen is so small that I can’t see that there’s a mistake. 

My screen is small enough that sometimes words are just a pixeled mess, until it saves the entire design (which takes forever and a day) – and then the tools on the screen go away, and there is just the design itself, so it’s a little bigger, and I can see the wording.  Once the machine duplicated an entire line.  Fortunately, I noticed before it stitched out.

The last time I had the machine serviced, the repairman said it was in very good shape, for a 20-year-old computerized machine.  I’ll just keep taking care of it the best I can, and someday when it goes kaput, I’ll try to find another, newer, used Bernina, as this one was.  It has served me well.  The new ones are sooo expensive... but often people sell them after using them very little.  Sometimes they write in their ad, “This was too much machine for me.” 

I want to retort, “Well, then, why’d you buy it, if you weren’t willing to learn?!”

Sometimes people buy them... and then pass away when they’ve hardly had a chance to use them, and none of their offspring sews. 

Here’s a funny:  I posted the pictures of those labels on various Facebook quilting groups, one of which has a quarter of a million members.  Others have tens of thousands of members.  Nary a single person remarked on that label.  It was only on my personal Facebook page that a good friend ever so politely and tactfully wrote, “This is a little bit confusing.  She married his brother?”

I stitched all the way around that label without ever ‘seeing’ it.  I thanked my friend for letting me know and remarked that this is excellent proof to show Larry why I need a new embroidery machine.  (’Course, he might just think I need new glasses, not a new machine.)

I wonder how many people noticed the error and were too polite to tell me?  😏

On a similar note... I have noticed a cute and popular child’s quilt that quite a few people have made... it has appliquéd words around the outer border... and one person after another has appliquéd the word “your” instead of the right word, “you’re”.  (I wonder if it’s that way on the pattern?)  I saw another with the word “there” instead of “their”.  That would drive me bonkers!

Anyway, thank goodness someone told me about my blunder.  😄

Tuesday afternoon, it was 63°, with beautiful, sunny blue skies.  By Friday, the weatherman said, it would get up to 67°.  Do you see what I’ve done?????  I’ve singlehandedly brought late summer/early fall back to the area, simply by exchanging summer clothes and bedding for winter ones!!!!!!!  Murphy’s Law – it’s bound to happen.

You’re welcome, you’re welcome.  ((curtsy))

Larry called:  Did I want to go to Omaha with him to pick up his truck from the dealer where it was being worked on, then drive the Jeep home?

Well, of course I did!  I gathered up coffee, laptop, tablet, purse, sweater, and camera, and was ready to go.

Amy sent a picture of Elsie in the stroller with a cat tucked in beside her, big as you please, sitting in the same position as Elsie, hind feet sticking out.

Larry and I couldn’t quit laughing at that picture. 

The cat didn’t mind; he liked the attention.  His paws were relaxed, and his eyes were happily squinted. 

The kids have made babies out of all their cats, and the kitties love to be cuddled and carried around upside down.  Nearly every time I arrive at their house, some kiddo brings a kitty to show me – and the little thing is purring its head off.  😺

Elsie had on older brother Warren’s sandals.  If anyone leaves their shoes around, she puts them on.  What’s really funny is when she goes shuffle-clomping along in her Daddy’s boots.

A while later, Amy sent more pictures.  Elsie had been playing beside Amy while she did the laundry... and then Amy smelled baby powder.  😂

You can guess the rest.  Yep, she had powder all over herself.

She’s a busy little beaver!  A girl’s gotta make herself smell purty, you know.  😁

One night as we ate supper, Larry and I were recalling some old stories. When we were teenagers, we liked to play softball.  Sometimes little kids – our friends’ children – would come onto the field and join the game.  We immediately toned down our game to fit the littlest child on the field, and to make it fun and safe for that one.  If there was a young child on the field, we’d all tap the ball softly with the bat, so as not to hurt him – and to let him catch it, if he could.  Then we’d howl about it, to make him laugh.

We once ordered a big, bruisin’ friend of ours off the field, because he hit a line drive that went sizzling right by a little boy’s ear.  Nearly made my heart stop. 

He wanted to argue (he was playing first, after all! – it was our game, not a baby’s game!) ------ but he owned neither the bats nor the balls nor the gloves, and we informed him that he either left, or we’d gather up all the equipment and leave, ourselves. 

Here’s a benefit people like him never realize:  In playing with and making a child happy, one has a whole lot more enjoyment, one’s self.  We had a ball making one little boy, at about age 4 or 5, think that he had indeed hit a home run.  One stood behind him, wrapped arms around him, and helped him bat.  All of us helped by yelling, “Run!  Run!” at the tops of our voices, and others helped by missing the ball and then crawling thumpity-thump after it on all fours.  One of the boys yelled “I’ve got it!” and stood with mitt atop head – then fell over backwards, legs straight up in the air, and lost the ball when it landed on his head.  We laughed ’til we cried.

Oh, haha... Larry, having his before-bedtime nap on the loveseat, just talked in his sleep.  Both cats, Tiger on his new bed, and Teensy on the living room rug, lifted their heads and turned toward me – but neither one opened their eyes.  Tooo, toooo, tired.

Now, that looked funny.  They both are obviously wanting me to do something about this sleep-talker who’s disturbing their beauty sleep.  “Make him stooooooopppppp!!!”

A friend was telling me that her cat has developed a new habit:  She swats at her when she stops petting the cat.  “Open claws, at that,” wrote my friend.  “I have to be sneaky and quick when I stop.  LOL”

Our neighbors had a cat that did that.  Such a nice kitty – until one stopped petting her.  One time she actually drew blood, and my temper got the better of me.  In a split second I exclaimed, “BAD CAT!” and smacked her on the rump.  She jumped, stared at me reproachfully, thought about it, then came and rubbed around my ankles, purring in a conciliatory fashion.

Sooo... I petted her again.  She didn’t claw me when I quit... and she never did again.  (I did peer around toward the neighbor’s house to see if the neighbor lady had seen me do that.)

I’m not recommending you slap your cat around.  Just tellin’ a story, is all.  heh

Wednesday night, I posted pictures of one of our drives from Lake City to Creede, Colorado.  If you prefer the Facebook version:  Lake City to Creede.  It sure was pretty out there.

Thursday was another bright and sunny day, and it got up to 66°.  Part of my Wal-Mart order arrived – four big boxes.  I put a bunch of groceries and supplies away, then headed upstairs to my quilting studio to make a new label for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt, replacing the one that had everyone singing ♫ ♪ ‘I’m My Own Grandpa’. ♪ ♫

At 4:30 p.m., I trotted downstairs to refill my coffee mug and to put a load of clothes into the dryer and the last one into the washing machine.  I glanced out the back patio door – and found another big box from Wal-Mart – on the back deck.  It was from FedEx.  The other pile of boxes earlier that morning had come from UPS.  I’ve put signs on both walk-in garage doors saying to NOT leave boxes there, or in the garage; we don’t find them, and they’ve gotten all wet when it rained.  I wrote, “Put them on the front porch, or inside the door if it looks like rain.”

So some nincompoop put it on the back deck.  I wonder how many tools and things of Larry’s he pocketed as he made his way past the stuff Larry had been working on, on the back driveway?

It was a FedEx man who once brought Victoria’s dishes – four large, heavy boxes – up from the little goat path south of our property where he parked his truck (nearly getting it stuck in the neighbors’ field when he turned around).  He trundled those boxes up a steep, snowy, muddy drive using his hand truck – and stacked them up in a tall, wet, melting snowdrift at a garage door I never use.  Just what, I’d like to know, is wrong with driving up the main road, and bringing boxes to the front door?!

Here’s a sunset we saw south of Creede, Colorado.  Sunsets like this remind me of that beautiful song, When His Glory Paints the Sky:

When His Glory Paints The Sky

I can see Him through the twilight
At the closing of the day;
I could almost hear Him whisper,
As to Him I knee to pray.

Only wait a little longer,
Falter not in faith or sight;
I will meet you in the morning,
When His glory paints the sky.

With my eye of faith upon Him,
Though the shadows thicken fast,
For the darkness cannot hide Him;
’Til the morning break at last.

In my times of deepest anguish,
When with bitter tears I pray,
I can hear His gentle whisper,
“I am near you all the way.”

Only wait a little longer.
Falter not in faith or sight;
I will meet you in the morning,
When His glory paints the sky.

Oh, look, I found a recording of the song – and it’s even a decent one, on youtube, of all places!  Makes me think of the verse, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” – “Can anything good come from youtube?” and the answer is.... Yes! – When His Glory Paints the Sky

That afternoon, I posted pictures of the “Cruisin’ the Canyon” car show we saw in Creede.  If you prefer Facebook:  https://tinyurl.com/CruisinTheCanyon

There were ladies there from the quilt show that was going on at the north end of the box canyon – and a handful of them had on pretty, quilted jackets.  There was a QOV (Quilt of Valor – red, white, and blue quilts made for veterans) lopping out of one car’s trunk.  Oh, and some of the car owners had quilted their own seats and headliners.  It was almost like another quilt show.  😉 

Or a dog show.  There were lots of dogs in attendance.

I like looking at old (or new, heh) cars.  When I was little, I went several times with my parents to Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska – a huge museum, indoors and out, full of things ‘the way they used to be’.  Daddy would get hung up in the many buildings of old cars, trucks, tractors, boats, and trailers, reading all the signs detailing them and giving their history; while Mama would get stalled out in the building with displays of bone china, silverware, and suchlike.

Can you guess who I stuck with?  😊

I finished redoing the label ----- and proceeded to trim one side without leaving any seam allowance.  Aarrgghh!  I sewed another piece of muslin onto it with a very narrow seam... pressed it... and sewed it onto the quilt.

Larry stopped at Teddy’s after work to put antifreeze in his tractor.  He went to get a hay bale for Teddy... the dogs hopped up on a hay bale, jumped the fence ----- and Max, their big Anatolian shepherd, ran to the highway and got hit and killed.  It’s always so sad when anything like that happens.

Friday, I cleaned a bit in the basement, emptying out three big boxes, putting a little round table in my gift-wrapping room (formerly my sewing room), and then covering it with the ruffled skirt and square overlay I made for it many years ago when we lived in town.  That’s a miniature general store/birdhouse sitting on it.  

I was glad to find that skirt and overlay – and glad I hadn’t cut up the skirt when I was running short of the fabric I used from Dorcas and Hannah’s curtains that they had in their room, when I was making Dorcas and Todd’s Baskets of Lilies quilt.  The skirt is the same fabric as the curtains – I bought an extra panel of curtains to make it, back when I decorated their room in 1988.  When I ran short of the fabric for the quilt, I pieced two of the petals, and even used another fabric that allllmost matched.  Where there was too much cream color and not enough of the flowered print, I used my Letraset Promarkers to paint in some flowers. So now I still have a whole table skirt.

The cleaning and emptying of boxes came about because I was hunting for a piece of white rib knit to use with the soft, pale yellow knit with the little diaper pins printed on it that I planned to use for a baby layette or two.  I found not only the rib knit, but also a large piece of white thermal knit.

I managed to get not two, but three baby outfits cut from that fabric, plus a 45” x 60” crib blanket.  The outfits consist of a long-sleeved onesie, cuffed pajama bottoms, cuffed booties, and a bonnet.  I’m making matching outfits for Carolyn, Violet, and Keira.

I decided to line the crib blanket with the white thermal knit.  In emptying those three big boxes, I found a 46” x 46” piece of pastel pink flannel with bunnies and lambs all over it.  I washed it and dried it; it shrunk almost an inch.  Let’s hope it’s now done shrinking.  I’ll make a baby blanket out of it, also lining it with the white thermal knit.  I might cut it into squares and add squares of some bright pink furry fleece I found.

I filled a bag of stuff for the Goodwill... put a load of Larry’s work jeans into the washer... and made an appointment for this coming Thursday with a quilt appraiser in Iowa; I’m going to have the Sunbonnet Sue and the Americana Eagle quilts appraised.

One woman, upon seeing the picture of the ‘gift-wrapping room’, informed me, “I never wrap gifts anymore; I just put them in bags.  So I don’t need a gift-wrapping room.”

I use bags, too... but sometimes things are already in a box, or need a box to keep fragile items from breaking.  Plus, I have a whole lot of wrapping paper to use up!  After Christmas, I hope to find a bunch of bags, ribbon, and bows on sale at Hobby Lobby.  Their sales start at 25% off... and eventually wind up at 90% off, if there’s anything left.  I usually get it when it’s 75% off, and there are still nice things to choose from.  By the time it’s 90% off, you get cards with the Grinch on them, and bags and wrapping paper in shades of lime green and neon orange.  (And y’all know I nevah, evah exaggerate.)  (Don’t you?)

In any case, even if one does use only bags for gifts, when one has 45 people on one’s Christmas list, one needs a place to put all these bags whilst one is a-sorting!  Especially if one gets each person something larger than an earring apiece.

If I use up all the wrapping paper, I could change the name of the room to ‘the bagging room’.  Reckon the lady would be happy then?

One of my quilting friends wrote, “I must admit, I think the room is just way too clean to be doing anything substantial in it. 😉”  (Now, that one was teasing.)

“Well,” I told her, “I’ll try to remember to take a picture when I’m in the throes of Christmas-present wrapping.  When I took the picture, I’d already finished cutting all the baby things, and hauled them upstairs.”

I have a table upstairs in my quilting studio, but there are a couple of tool caddies at the back of it, along with three embroidery thread containers, my speakers, the tools and feet for my Bernina, and the Bernina itself.  My large cutting mats cover the front side of the table.  It works okay for 42”-wide quilting fabrics, but not for 60-66”-wide knits.

So I did the easy thing:  instead of moving stuff off my upstairs table, I just trotted downstairs to the now-gift-wrapping room, fabric, pattern, pins, and scissors in hand.  😊

By early afternoon, the crib blanket was done, and I was ready to start the little outfit for baby Violet.  Gotta keep these pieces straight, and not sew the size M to the size XL, or the size S to the size M.  I could wind up with Johnny Cash’s Cadillac, if I’m not careful!

♪ ♫ “I built it ♫ ♪ one piece at a time... ♫ ♪

Here’s the baby blanket and part of the first outfit I made:

A onesie and the pajama bottoms are done except for snaps on the top, and there are matching bonnet and booties, too.  This is the size 3 months, for Baby Violet.  I have a size 24 months cut for little Carolyn, and 6 months for Baby Keira.  The blanket is 47" x 67", a good-sized crib blanket.  The fabric is a soft, thin knit.

Yesterday, Victoria gave us some of her homemade chicken enchiladas for lunch.  They were frozen; we only had to warm them up.  Yummy!

Here’s a fact:  Designing quilts is a whole lot faster than making them. 

Last night I put together an EQ8 design for the next big quilt I plan to make – a New York Beauty variation.  It will be in tones of cream, ivory, and white TOTs (tone on tone), and will be embellished with lots of Venice lace and pearls, and possibly silk ribbon embroidery, too.  The lace will go around all those curves.  I need 36 yards.

I have quite a few other things to do first, but at least this pattern is now ready and waiting.  I have the fabric, too, including the backing – got it at a smashing bargain from Marshall Dry Goods Co.  Here’s the diagram:

It will be paper-pieced.

My paper-piecing winds up quite a lot like when a toddler wants to sit on a little chair:  he looks at the chair... he turns around (usually about 270°, instead of 180° – or maybe just 90°, depending on the personality of the tot)... and he sits.  

On the floor.

He then looks around, surprised, to see who pulled the chair out from under him.  That’s me, paper-piecing.  😂

One time when Lydia was wee little, about 3 or so, she got a cold.  No one else in the family was sick; only her.  She said mournfully (evidently having heard us discussing ‘catching’ things from each other), “I’m the only one sick!”  She shook her head sadly.  Then, “I must’ve caught it from my dolly,” she decided.

And now I shall go work on baby clothes!

~          ~          ~

P.S.:  Here’s a list of some important new music terms:

ALLEREGRETTO:  When you’re 16 measures into the piece and suddenly realize you set too fast a tempo

ANGUS DEI:  To play with a divinely beefy tone

A PATELLA:  Accompanied by knee-slapping

APOLOGGIATURA:  A composition that you regret playing

APPROXIMATURA:  A series of notes not intended by the composer, yet played with an “I meant to do that” attitude

APPROXIMENTO:  A musical entrance that is somewhere in the vicinity of the correct pitch

DILL PICCOLINI:  An exceedingly small wind instrument that plays only sour notes

FERMANTRA:  A note held over and over and over and over and ...

FIDDLER CRABS:  Grumpy string players

FLUTE FLIES:  Those tiny insects that bother musicians on outdoor gigs

FRUGALHORN:  A sensible and inexpensive brass instrument

GAUL BLATTER:  A French horn player

GREGORIAN CHAMP:  The title bestowed upon the monk who can hold a note the longest

PLACEBO DOMINGO:  A faux tenor

SPRITZICATO:  An indication to string instruments to produce a bright and bubbly sound

TEMPO TANTRUM:  What an elementary school orchestra is when it is not following the conductor

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