Sarah Lynn's Nature's Splendor: April 2023

I had expected to follow Larry to Lincoln last Monday to have the Palfinger crane installed on the new boom truck; after which we planned to pick up my quilting machine in Fremont and then visit Loren. But the people from the Palfinger crane place in Lincoln did not return his call. Eventually, days later, they would, and he would learn that the crane is still in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Maybe it will be here by the end of the month. They’re probably waiting for more things to load on the truck, in order to make it a more profitable trip. It has been nearly a year since Walkers got that new truck – and it was on order for a year before that!

For supper that evening, we had grilled cheese sandwiches with Pepper Jack cheese, and Amy’s Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque Soup. (‘Amy’s’ is the brand name, not our daughter-in-law. 😄) We’d never had that soup before. It’s canned, and it was good. But Schwan’s and Panera Bread’s frozen Tomato Basil Soups are better. We had Oui lemon yogurt and Bai Nariño Peach Supertea with it, and peach cobbler with frozen Cool Whip for dessert.

In my last letter, I posed the question, ‘Is it worth my while to make Frankenbatting?’ 🤣😄 (That’s batting scraps sewn together to make one piece of batting big enough for a quilt.)

Here’s the answer:

Monday evening, I put together a queen-sized piece of batting in Soft & Bright, 100% cotton, and a full-sized poly high-loft, maybe Fairfield. Wondering if this endeavor was worth my while, or if it would be better to quit worrying about it and toss the pile of batting scraps into the rubbish bin, I kept track of my time, measured the pieces when I got them big enough for a good-sized quilt, and tallied it all up.

The first was worth about $27; the second, about $35. (Well, you can pay $50 for the Soft & Bright if you want to, out of the goodness of your heart, at Joann’s.) (Tomorrow it could very likely be on sale cheaper than the $27 I saw at Sewing Parts Online.) The full-sized Quilters’ Dream wool batting I sewed together a week or two ago is worth about $50.

It took me three hours to sew those pieces together (and it barely made a dent in my batting scraps). I saved about $62 (unless I had’ve felt like increasing Joann’s holdings, in which case I saved $85; but let’s go on the premise that I am a skinflint, and would’ve gotten it as cheaply as possible). This calculates to about $20.66/hour. I’ve made less, in my lifetime. 😏

It only took about 15 minutes to sew the two big pieces of wool batting together last week. I was making $200 an hour, that go-around! Okay, I guess it’s worth my while. 😊

The way I put batting together is as follows: I set my stitch length as long as possible and the stitch width as wide as possible (my machine has a 9mm stitch width). I lessen the pressure of the presser foot quite a lot, and sometimes I lessen thread tension top and bottom (depending on whether or not I remember, which depends on whether or not the thread is pulling too tightly). I make sure the edges of the batting are straight, then I butt them together and zigzag, using thread that matches the batting so it doesn’t show through light-colored fabric.

You can also get strips of adhesive to iron onto batting and hold pieces together. I have used them successfully – and unsuccessfully, too. Sometimes my iron wasn’t hot enough, and the strips came loose. Sometimes my iron was too hot and melted the batting. But if you get the temperature of the iron exactly right, it is quick and easy.

Tuesday, I went to Fremont to get my longarm.

On the way, I drove past the old Kracl & Sons Garage in Rogers, population 81. It’s been there since well before I was born, with the word ‘GARAGE’ painted over the big door – and maybe with that same old wrecker there on the left, who knows.

When the kids were little and we’d drive past that place, I’d start pointing out other obvious structures and objects: “House.” “Barn.” “Tree.” “Car.” until everyone was laughing and joining in with the object-naming. We thought how funny it would be to paint ‘identifiers’ on everything in the village by dark of night (with wash-off paint, of course): “Porch.” “Chair.” “Fence.” 🤣

At Nebraska Quilt Company, I wandered around for a few minutes, looking at quilts and fabric and quilting rulers. One thing I miss that the previous owners had is a big, old-fashioned cupboard just inside the front door, full of all manner of candles and soaps. It made the whole store smell sooo good.

Kevin, the man who, with his wife, used to own the place, still works as a tech, and he’s the one who serviced my Avanté. Another of the techs carried the machine out to the Mercedes for me, and then stood and looked blankly at the ratcheting buckle clasps on the straps Larry had in the back. He’s a good longarm and sewing machine tech, and he designs nice quilt patterns; but strap-down technology and ratcheting buckle clasps stump him. He finally wove the strap through the machine once – just once – and called it good. I’ve had redone it, but the clasp is hard for me to open and shut. I decided to just drive carefully and refrain from going around corners on two wheels.

This beautiful place in Fremont is the Nephrology Care Clinic for the treatment of various kidney conditions. It was originally the private home of one of the more affluent members of the community.

If it was my house, I’d have my sewing room in the cupola and my quilting studio in the top room next to it with the south-facing windows.

I got home at a quarter ’til five, and called Larry to see if he might have a chance to carry the machine into the house.

“I’ll be there in 20 minutes!” he told me.

He got here in about 45 minutes, which isn’t bad, for him. That man will be late for his own funeral, you just see if he isn’t.

Meanwhile, I hurried upstairs and got quilt tops and batting and backing off of the frame.

As soon as the Avanté was back on its carriage, I loaded Joseph’s Army quilt, threaded the machine, and started quilting. There was no time to lose!

I got a text from Levi, who’s 12. I stop what I’m doing and chat with children and grandchildren alike, time to lose or not.

“How are you doing?” he asked. “Have you slept well today?”

“Not yet!” I replied. “I’m quilting away.”

“Have you poked yourself through the thimble yet?” he inquired further. “I find that getting poked takes the fun out of sewing.”

“Yeah, I’ve done that,” I answered. “If everyone else is asleep when it happens, I have to put my head in the fish tank when I yell, so I don’t wake anyone up.” (Not that I have a fish tank.)

“So you always have water up your nose and tooth marks from the scared fish,” speculated Levi.

“Yes, the little piranhas don’t like getting jolted out of their doldrums!” I agreed. “But right now I’m using my quilting machine,” I told him. “No need of thimbles. I just got the machine back from the tech at Nebraska Quilt Company in Fremont this afternoon. It’s working really nicely.”

In fact, the Avanté was moving as smoothly as it did when I first got it. The tension and timing were perfect, and the new lights under the handle are so helpful.

Meanwhile, the wind was gusting up to 50 mph, and thunder was starting to rumble. I pulled up a radar map. It appeared there was some bad weather to our south, and a little to our north; but the storm was mostly splitting around us, as it often does. Something about the topography causes that.

Since Thursday was going to be our son-in-law Jeremy’s birthday, and we would be seeing him Wednesday night at church, Larry stopped by Sapp Bros. and picked up one of those big thermal water jugs like we got for Andrew, only this one was in teal and aqua blue. Andrew’s was black and white. Again I forgot to take a picture of it, and cannot find a jug like it anywhere online. I also gave him a vintage razor with a mother-of-pearl handle that used to be Loren’s.

It never mattered at all if Loren used a razor or a pocketknife or a hatchet or not; he always, always sharpened them so much, you could use them to cut right through petrified woolly mammoth bones. Or at least whittle a Viking chess piece out of a chunk of Australian ironwood.

A friend of mine has rediscovered the fun of weaving potholders. She purchased a 10” loom, and sorts her colors so that her designs look like quilt blocks. Really nifty.

It reminded me of the heaps and mounds of potholders I made as a child. When I traveled with my parents during the summer, I would sell potholders at campgrounds and rest areas. One summer I made $20, and thought I was walking in high cotton. Plus, it was 100% profit, because my parents bought the loom and all the supplies. 😄

I quilted until time for church, and after getting home and eating a late supper, I hurried back upstairs to my quilting studio and continued quilting.

When I quit for the night, I figured it would take just 3 or 4 hours the next day, and I’d be done.

“I knew you’d have it ready by the 24^th!!” exclaimed one of my friends.

“Thanks!” I responded, “but... ‘Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off’!” 😅

I did indeed finish the quilt Thursday. I trimmed and cut it from the frame, then attached the binding.

We had venison meatloaf for supper that evening. I use my mother’s recipe, with a package of crackers and several eggs in it. Since we had some leftover corn on the cob, I sliced the corn off the cob, left it in bite-sized chunks, and put it into the meatloaf, too.

We put picanté sauce on it, rather than the usual ketchup-with-brown-sugar topping.

The new ruler I ordered from Julia Quiltoff, perhaps my favorite quilter, arrived that day. It’s called a ‘Ninja Star’ ruler. I wonder what sorts of things I’ll be able to quilt with it? 🙂

Early Friday afternoon, after hearing the weather forecast, I wrote to Victoria: “You know there is going to be frost tonight and a hard freeze tomorrow night? They’re saying it will get down to 31° tonight and 22° tomorrow night. If you’ve planted things, they’ll have to be covered well, or brought in, if possible.”

“Yes,” she answered, “I actually bought a frost blanket and I’ll use towels and mulch for all the rest.” She sent a couple of pictures, adding, “I’ve planted quite a bit already.”

“Are you following planting recommendations for Texas???!” I exclaimed.

“Well, no,” she told me, “just trying to choose more hardy things. Alyssum is mostly what I’ve done, and it’s hardy down to 28°. It got so hot a couple of weeks ago, and the forecast said it would stay warm; so I was worried my cool-season plants wouldn’t get a chance to grow. That’s why I rushed so much. Our weather is puzzling. I have lettuce and spinach and broccoli and peas that should be okay. I’ve watered everything good already and mulched to help insulate them all.”

There are very few years when we haven’t gotten freezes and frosts (sometimes even hard freezes) right up through the first of May.

Do you know the story in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Farmer Boy’, where they had a hard freeze in the early morning hours of July 4^th? That was in upstate New York. The whole family spent half the night running from plant to plant in their big fields, pouring a little water on each one. They managed to save nearly all of their fields.

They went to the town’s Fourth of July celebrations feeling half asleep.

In the middle of our discussion, I got this note from Levi: “Am hungus”, followed immediately by, “Autocorrect sent a message. Lol.”

I ignored the disclaimer and responded, “‘Hungus’. That’s when a Black Angus cow is hungry, right?”

“Could be,” answered Levi, and then explained, “I currently am in the little gap between assignments that I try to savor as much as possible.” There was a short pause, and then he added, “But I usually just play chess.” 😂

I like to take pictures of quilts on the back deck in natural lighting. And whataya know, Friday dawned with no rain, and the wind only gusting up to 25 mph. Reckon I could snap a picture before the gale took the quilt off to the Loup River?

Yep. I could, and I did.

Next, I machine-embroidered the label for the quilt.

The quilt measures 53” x 70”, and was designed in EQ8. I got the panel, the Army fabric, the dark blue, and the dark red fabrics from Missouri Star Quilt Company. The dark green, lighter blue, and the yellows were from my stash. I used high-loft polyester batting. There are six different colors of thread on top, mostly Omni 40-wt. A couple are Signature 40-wt. I used medium gray Bottom Line 60-wt. in the bobbin. The backing is pieced.

It’s always fun to see the quilting design on the back of a quilt after it is removed from the frame.

That evening, there was a string concert at the Federated Church, and three of Teddy and Amy’s children, Emma, 17, Jeffrey, 14, and Emma, 6, were in it, each of them playing the cello. Elsie’s little cello is a 1/8 size. Several other cousins and friends were in the concert, too.

It lasted a couple of hours. By the time I got home, I was half starved half to death. I poked a Marie Calendar cherry crumble pie into the oven to bake while I fixed a few other things, then texted Larry, who was working on vehicles in Genoa: “You might want to pick up some ice cream to go with the cherry pie.”

He might forget other things I ask him to bring home at times; but he never forgets the ice cream! 😄

An old picture scrolled through on my screensaver as I ate supper, showing a number of the children sitting around the table. It reminded me of the time we were having baby carrots with our meal, and Hester, who didn’t much care for them, was staring off into space as she fished idly in her bowl with a fork.

Hannah, while putting ice cube trays into the freezer, extracted a frozen carrot from a large bag. She turned and walked back to her chair, dropping that frozen carrot unnoticed into Hester’s bowl of cooked carrots as she passed by.

It wasn’t long before Hester’s fork went ‘tink-tink-tink’ on that frozen carrot.

Hester stared down into her bowl and ‘tinka-tink-tinked’ her fork on the carrot several more times without saying a word – and then her siblings all cracked up.

Hester’s head popped up, and she stared straight at Hannah. How did she guess that one did it??

Saturday was a chilly day. We were going to visit Loren, and then we planned to meet Joseph, Jocelyn, and the children at a Pizza Ranch halfway between their house and Prairie Meadows. I put Joseph’s quilt, along with a book by Charles H. Spurgeon, All of Grace, into a box and wrapped it. Since Juliana’s 9^th birthday would be Monday, April 24^th, the same day as Joseph’s, we took a gift for her, too: a big ceramic piggy bank in mother-of-pearl with roses painted on it, and with a handful of coins inside it to make it jingle. I tucked a roll of pennies into her bag, too, and a little placemat with teddy bears appliquéd on it, with lace around them, which I had made some years ago for Norma for Mother's Day.

Our family has eight birthdays in April (grandchildren, son, and son-in-law). There are only four, next month.

Loren was doing well, though he is a little frailer each time we see him. We walked with him to the dining room and sat with him while he ate. He is stooped now and shuffles a bit, which is characteristic for Lewy Body dementia. I think he didn’t walk this way for so long because overall he was in better physical health than many who get this disease.

Larry told him all about the work he’s been doing on the big boom truck, and showed him pictures of the steel and aluminum bed he made for it. Every time a new picture came up, Loren counted the axles and exclaimed over it.

The lady named Dottie who gave me the cross-stitch kit a few weeks ago sat with us, too. She was tired, as she had been shopping with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter that day, getting furniture and supplies for her new apartment in a retirement complex nearby. She does not have dementia, but lived there at Prairie Meadows with her husband, who passed away recently. She is frail and uses a walker. Happily, I remembered the little quilted mug rug and a card I wanted to give her. She was quite delighted with it. Here she is with a parrot someone brought to Prairie Meadows a week or so ago. She’s in her early 80s, and just the sweetest lady.

She held her napkin (they always have linen napkins at everyone’s place) up to her mouth and talked to me from behind it, so Loren wouldn’t hear: “Everyone just loves Loren – especially the ladies here, the residents, I mean, because he always has a smile for them, and is always so kind and helpful.” She winked at me. “Plus, they all think he’s cute, with that smile.”

I laughed and said, “Thus it hath ever been!” and she laughed, too.

Here’s Joseph with his quilt, and Larry helping him hold it.

As we were eating in Pizza Ranch, Joseph described a double-thick tapestry Army quilt he’d gotten himself in 2004 that he uses every day – and the threads are coming apart, he’s used it so much. He started to say that he wouldn’t use this new quilt, so the same fate wouldn’t befall it, and Larry, who sorta feels the same way about quilts I’ve made him, obligingly began telling him about quilt hangers one can get in order to hang it on the wall — but I hastily interrupted and exclaimed, “No, no, use it!! When it starts getting threadbare, I’ll make another one!”

Both father and son just smiled at me. I told him how to wash it, promised to bring him some Color Catchers next time we see him, and he assured me that he would not get it dirty before he got some Color Catchers. Judging by how he takes care of the rest of his things, I’d say he’s telling the truth.

Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m., it was 22°, exactly as predicted. Aaron’s 22^nd birthday was the next day, the 24^th, and our gift for him was a white dress shirt. Thinking he might like to wear it to the wedding we’d be going to that evening, I wrapped it and then texted him to say we’d be bringing it to church with us. “You might want it for church tonight,” I added.

I wonder if he wore it? I didn’t catch more than a glimpse of him last night.

The wedding was for my great-niece Emily, my nephew Robert Walker’s daughter, and Benjamin. On the far left is my great-niece Rachel, 13, youngest of my niece Susan’s children. She was a candlelighter. Susan and her husband Charles (Larry’s boss) have been in Scottsdale, Arizona for several weeks now; she is undergoing treatment for the cancer that has come back. It’s in her liver, and there is also a spot on her spine. Last week they learned that it has not spread to her brain as they had feared, so we are thankful for that. Next to Rachel are Joelle and Royce, cousins to the bride and groom. Next to Emily is her sister Michelle and Michelle’s husband David (the two sisters married two brothers), then another sister, Kay, 15, Robert and Margaret’s youngest; she was the other candlelighter. In front are honorary flowergirl Gracelynn (Michelle and David’s little girl), honorary ringbearer Titus, nephew of the groom; then flowergirl and ringbearer Eliana and Paul, niece and nephew of the bride. Gracelynn, Eliana, and Paul are my great-great nieces and great-great nephew.

We gave Benjamin and Emily a coiled-wax candle and these folded-star potholders I made some time back.

Today a friend mentioned that she needed to return to a store to pay for something the clerk had not charged her for.

That reminded me of the time I went shopping, got out to our vehicle, and discovered that I had neglected to pull a 40-lb. bag of cat food from under the cart to be checked.

We put the other bags into the car, then back we went into the store with the cat food (and all the kids) to pay for it.

The checker was looking at us quizzically. The manager, seeing us returning (we made a scene, just by the sheer number of us), came to see what the trouble was.

I told him, “I tried to steal this bag of cat food, but my conscience got the better of me, so here I am again to pay for it.”

He looked at me in amazement for a moment before throwing his head back and guffawing so loudly that everyone at the front of the store turned to look at us – so he told them what I’d said!

Acckkk! I’m a shy little thing! Really, I am.

But I was the star of the show. 😳

The manager proceeded to hand a bright red apple to each of the children, while I paid for the cat food.

As we climbed into our Suburban, Teddy, who was about 7, crunching away on his apple, said, “Let’s forget to pay for the dog food next time, too!”

Me: “Teddy!!”

Teddy: “Hee hee.”

People in Nebraska got pictures of the Aurora Borealis last night, and I didn’t know a thing about it until this afternoon, when a number of people posted pictures on the 81 Corridor Facebook page. This photo was just outside of Columbus.

The Flowering Pear trees along the road in Bennington, north of Omaha, are in bloom. Aren’t they pretty?

I have now put away the last load of clothes... the dishes are all washed... and it’s bedtime. Tomorrow I plan to start quilting the Biblical Blocks quilt that Amy’s grandmother started making back in the early 1980s. Amy will give it to her as soon as it’s done. She’s not at all well; I need to hurry.

Goodnight!

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

February Photos

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Photos: Drive to Omaha to Visit Loren

Monday, April 24, 2023

Journal: Birthdays, Weddings, & Another Quilt