I worked
in the flower gardens for about an hour Tuesday morning. The lilies are blooming like everything.
By 11:00
a.m., I was all squeaky clean again, ready to eat something and head upstairs
to my quilting studio. I’d finished a
row of quilting Monday night, and had just one more wide border and one narrow
border to go on the Wolves quilt.
That
morning, Levi sent pictures from Arlington Cemetery, where he was exploring
with his family.
A few minutes later, he sent this
picture, exclaiming, “Look what I just accidentally brushed with my
hand!”
“Aaaiiiiiyiiiiieeee,” I answered,
appropriately enough, I thought; then asked, “Some type of orb weaver?”
Before he could respond, I found it: “Here we go: That is an Araneus diadematus, or a
Cross Orb Weaver. Originally inhabiting
various European regions, they’ve managed to hitch rides to the U.S. They’re not medically significant at all and
are wonderful pest controllers.
“Araneus diadematus is commonly
called the European garden spider, Cross Orb Weaver, Diadem spider, Orangie, Cross
spider, and Crowned Orb weaver. It is also
sometimes called the Pumpkin spider, although this name is also used for a
different species, Araneus marmoreus.
“You have just met an eight-legged
alien,” I finished, after giving him this information.
“He was born and raised by immigrant
parents!” Levi responded. 😄
A little after 8:30 that evening, I
finished the quilting on Lyle’s quilt.
After cutting the quilt from the frame, I designed the label and saved it
on my machine to stitch out the next day.
It was hot and rainy Wednesday morning. I washed and cut my hair, started a load of clothes washing, and then ate a breakfast of a waffle and an egg.
After cleaning up
the kitchen, I took some pictures of the Stella d’Oro daylilies that were putting
on such a show, then headed upstairs to stitch out the label for the Wolves
quilt. I changed the name; I decided to
call it ‘Starry Night Wolves’.
It poured rain that afternoon, and I
discovered we had
a new and different leak by the front door. I found it raining all over the pictures – the
grandchildren’s senior pictures – on the end table in the corner.
I think I saved them before
irreparable harm was done. 😕
I had just
enough time to sew the label to the quilt before our midweek church service
that evening.
It stopped raining long enough for me
to get to the car and head off to church without drowning. I could hear the rain coming down on the
metal roof of the church during the service, but once again, it stopped and
allowed me to get to my car without getting soaked. But I was scarcely to the edge of town before
rain began coming down with a vengeance.
It was still raining hard when I got
home. Fortunately, I’d taken an umbrella
with me. I left my Bible and one of the
small clutches I use for church, along with a bag containing a friend’s quilt,
in the vehicle. I would get it the next
day when it wasn’t raining.
Since I then didn’t have the quilt from my
friend in the house, I decided to put the binding on Lyle’s quilt after
supper. It would take a while, but since
AccuWeather was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to pull weeds in the morning on
account of continued rain, I spent three hours in my quilting studio, finishing
the binding for the Starry Night Wolves quilt. This time, I attached the binding on the back
first, folded it around to the front, and used a narrow blanket stitch to sew
it down. Can you see the stitches?
The
quilt measures 94” x 107”. I used Quilters’ Dream wool batting.
There are numerous colors of thread in the top, mostly 40-wt., but a few 50-wt.
in the central wolves panel. The brands
are Omni, Signature, Masterpiece, and Gutermann.
The
panel is called ‘Wolves Dream Catcher’ and is by Riley Blake Designs. I
designed the borders in EQ8, using blocks called ‘Delectable Mountains’ and
‘LeMoyne Single Irish Chain’, and ‘Striped Grooves’ for the outer border.
Here is a breakdown of the hours spent on this quilt:
It’s the time of year for those prized Morel
mushrooms – and look! I found one right
in our very own yard! I left it there,
as I am not overly fond of mushrooms.
Besides, Morel mushrooms have
several lookalikes, some of which are edible and some of which are
poisonous. The most common lookalikes
are in the genera Verpa and Gyromitra.
It’s crucial to be able to distinguish true Morels from these lookalikes
before consuming them, as some false Morels contain toxins.
The rain tally for our neck o’ ze woods was
around two inches – but Grand Island, 65 miles to our southwest, got 6.41”! There’s still a lot of flooding there.
By 2:00 that afternoon, the sun and the wind had dried the back deck, so I swept it, then took pictures of the Starry Night Wolves quilt on it.
Below are two pictures of the backing.
Retrieving
my things from the Mercedes, I began loading my friend’s Dick, Jane, and Sally quilt
on the frame. The first order of
business, though, was to splice the batting she’d sent along for it, using my
9mm zigzag at the longest stitch length.
I splice my own batting often, though
after putting together umpteen bajillion too-smallish chunks and strips for a
large quilt, wherein they twisted and turned and misbehaved the entire time I
quilted it, I said, “I shall NEVER do that again!”
But I did. 🙄😏
’Cuz I’m a cheapskate.
The quilt looked fine after it was done;
no one would’ve ever guessed I fought with that batting the whole while I
quilted it.
Supper that
evening was porkchops and corn on the cob, made in the Instant Pot. I wrap the corn on the cob in aluminum foil
when cooking it in the pot. Since it
starts off frozen, there’s enough moisture in it to steam it nicely in the foil
while the meat cooks, without overcooking the corn.
After
supper, I returned to my quilting room to work on my friend’s quilt. By a little after ten, the top border and
the first row were done, and the quilt was rolled forward to the next row. It’s always nice to come back to the quilting
machine the next day and find it ready to go, with no pausing to roll the quilt
forward.
That night, Victoria texted to tell me this
funny from 3-year-old Willie: “Last night I said
that something or other ‘wasn’t a big deal,’” she related. “Willie then says, ‘It’s a tiny deal?’”
hee hee How soon children’s Thesauruses launch into
working order!
Friday evening, the Dick, Jane, and Sally was finished. I trimmed it from the frame, and after supper I dropped it off at my friend’s house when I went to pick up a grocery order at Walmart.
The
backing is flannel. She made this cute quilt for her newest grandbaby,
who will be arriving any day now.
Saturday, I started on Nathanael’s quilt,
which, like his younger brother Levi’s quilt, will be made partially from the
fabrics and panels of the double-sided quilt their other late grandmother
started. I plan to call it ‘All Creatures Great and
Small’, regardless of the fact that most all the animals on it are big.
Below is the central section. It’s
still in three parts; I need to sew it together, add a couple of borders to
frame it, and then design some fancy borders.
There was a lot of lightning during the
night, but it was far enough away that I only heard one low rumble of thunder.
I woke up after sleeping a couple of
hours, and couldn’t get back to sleep. I
finally got up at 6:00 a.m. and got ready for church.
Bobby and Hannah and their family are home
again; I’m always happy when our kids get back from a long trip. My own mother felt the same; I remember her
saying, upon hearing we were planning a trip to the National Parks in Canada,
“Couldn’t you just go to Henry Doorly Zoo instead!??”
After church last night, we had a
supper of meatloaf and mixed vegetables. I make meatloaf the way my mother did: I add a packet of crushed-but-not-too-crushed
crackers – butter-flavored Keebler’s, this time – and 4 or 5 large eggs to the hamburger. I mix it well, press it into a cake pan, bake
for 20 minutes, then spread a mixture of ketchup and brown sugar on it and bake
for another 5 minutes or so. Mmmm, yummy. I had rice pudding for dessert; Larry had
yogurt. We had Martinelli unfiltered
apple juice (not from concentrate, with tiny apple bits in it) to go with the
meal. Good stuff; it tastes like apples just
run through an apple juicer.
The gallon-sized Cold Brew jug by DailyBrew
Glassware is excellent quality. The fine
mesh of the central tube for coffee grounds or tea leaves keeps the liquid
clear and without sediment. The silicone
sleeve keeps the jug from sliding in the refrigerator, and the spout cover
catches drips nicely. But the main thing
is, it makes delicious Cold Brew. I like
it in a ration of one-third brew to two-thirds water. Can you tell by the picture that we’ve been
enjoying it?
This morning I went to town to take care of
some matters for Loren’s estate. Soon,
it will be all settled and done. The
lawyer, looking at statements from the Estate Account, and having already seen
statements from Loren’s checking account before I closed it, said with a smile,
“You didn’t use very much of that money, did you?”
He did not say I was a
penny pincher, mind you. (Just for the record.)
Nathanael had his 19th birthday
while he was on vacation, and Bobby and Hannah had their 25th
anniversary. I gave Nathanael this Mossy
Oak multi-tool and camouflage baseball
cap, not realizing until they arrived that they matched.
For Bobby and Hannah, I had a china 25th-anniversary
set that included salt and pepper shakers, a little tray for them, and a
creamer and sugar bowl. This set was
given to my parents on their 25th anniversary in 1961. My mother then gave it to John H. and Lura
Kay for their 25th anniversary in 1989, and Lura Kay in turn
gave it to Larry and me for our 25th anniversary in
2004. I used it for a year before
carefully packing it up to save for Bobby and Hannah.
I have paid some bills, done a bit of
housecleaning, and now I shall go work on Nathanael’s quilt.
,,,>^..^<,,, Sarah Lynn ,,,>^..^<,,,
