Sarah Lynn's Nature's Splendor: Journal: Gone Antiquing

Last Monday evening, I was looking at a video called “Touring Daniel Boone’s Mansion Built in 1817”. Look at this beautiful quilt that’s on one of the upstairs beds:

I should’ve gone outside Tuesday morning and done some weeding; the weather was a lot nicer out than the weatherman had predicted. But... didn’t wanna. 😏 I wanted to quilt! Ah, well; the mosquitoes would’ve been swarming like crazy after several hours of rain. (Good excuse, right? I am adept at excusing myself from weeding.)

So... I refilled the bird feeders, showered, cleaned the bathroom, got myself a tall thermal mug of Strawberry Crumble Cold Brew, curled my hair, ate breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, put away the last load of laundry, and soon I was heading upstairs to my quilting studio. I was ready to quilt!

Sometime in the middle of the morning, a movement overhead caught my eye. I looked up, and... Eeek! There was a big black spider on the ceiling, too high for me to reach with the flyswatter, even if I stood on the little footstool near at hand. I grabbed a handful of rubber bands and started firing. The third missile brought it down.

Today might be National Be Nice to Bugs Day. Last Tuesday was not.

Half an hour later, a movement on the floor caught my eye. Aaaiiiiiyiiiiyiiiieeee!!! One of the most gigantic black crickets I’ve ever seen was strolling along nonchalantly right next to my innocent, helpless, little bare feet! He grinned, gave me a thumbs-up, and said in a bass voice, “Hi! How ya doin’?”

Well, maybe not. But he was big enough, he could’ve.

Fortunately, there was a flyswatter at hand, though it took several good swats to neutralize him. What I needed was a sledgehammer. Now what would I use to scoop up the remains?

Aaaaaccckkkk. Somebody hand me a shovel.

When an orthopteran is that big, it almost seems like one should perform Last Rites for him. But maybe he was Baptist, same as me; in which case he just needed someone to read his obituary after he was done kicking.

Okay, sorry; this missive did not intend to be gross and morbid when it began.

That day, I belatedly learned that there had been a tornado warning the previous night in Madison County. That’s immediately to our north. I neither saw nor heard any notifications for it. Over 10,000 people were left without power because of bad weather around Omaha, too.

For supper that night, I cooked some little pork steaks and some yams in the Instant Pot. While they were cooking, I made a giant bowl of strawberries, blueberries, fresh pineapple, and fresh peaches, and another bowl of watermelon. I love fresh pineapple, but it makes my tongue tingle; and if I eat too much, it makes my stomach hurt. Furthermore, it’s not much fun cutting it. But... yummm.

By bedtime, the 16 Log Cabin blocks for the next border on Nathanael’s ‘All Creatures Great & Small’ quilt were done.

Wednesday, Victoria wrote to tell me, “I love using your sewing machine!”, sending a picture of the machine with its accessories gracing her table.

Two or three years ago, I gave her my Bernina 830 Record, that wonderful machine I bought with a couple of my very first paychecks from Nebraska Public Power District, where I worked in the Word Processing Center when I was 16-19 years old.

Before long, she sent me a picture of the cute little dress she’d just completed, along with a picture of little Arnold leaning against her chair.

“Arnold wishes I wouldn’t sew,” she remarked.

“Sweet little boy,” I responded. “Give him tape measures and rulers, and show him how to measure stuff.”

Keith, at about age 2 ½, was once measuring all over the place there in my sewing room. And then he measured the behinder of me as I sat there sewing, and he said, said he, “Wowwww.” 😅

I used to give my toddlers bits of ribbon and lace and fabric, and let them sort the pieces into egg cartons. The older kids loved to sort buttons.

Victoria was one who particularly wanted to be doing whatever I was doing.

Next, she sent a shot of the machine with its covers off. “Time to put it away,” she wrote.

Now, mind you, I knew she was dusting and oiling it. But she didn’t say so, did she?

So I wrote back, “! In that condition?!”

“😂 All oiled and dusted,” she laughed.

I gave her this IBOI (Important Bit of Information): “Always remember: It’s never good if, when you put it all back together, you wind up with parts left over.” 😂

The 830 Record was top of the line for many years, and for good reason. This particular machine has run steadily, with hardly a hiccup, for over 48 years.

That afternoon, I removed the newsprint paper from the backs of the Log Cabin blocks (I paper-pieced them, because they were odd sizes), then sewed them together and attached them to the quilt, top and bottom. I hadn’t really wanted to use that medium mottled green fabric on the sides, but my fabric order – a large variety of greens – from Marshall Dry Goods hadn’t arrived yet. The long holiday weekend delayed it. Holidays, tsk.

But I was ready to sew that border on! Oh, well; the fabric is from the quilt Nathanael’s other late grandmother had started, and I am trying to use those fabrics in this quilt. It doesn’t clash; that’s always a bonus.

I don’t mind green, though it’s not my favorite color; and that mottled green right there is among my less-liked greens. Still, it’s all right. It’s all right, I tell ya.

The Marshall Dry Goods order arrived yesterday. Ethan’s, Aaron’s, and Joanna’s quilts will all need various green fabrics, so it’ll be used.

Larry took the Mercedes to Walkers’ shop after church that night to fix the air conditioner. Good thing he left when he did, because it wasn’t long before it was raining hard, with the wind blowing up a gale.

He worked on the Benz for several hours, reporting at 1:20 a.m., “This is really no fun to work on. I have to take the passenger front seat out to get to the fuse for the fan motor.”

I didn’t see that note, though, since I’d already gone to bed, as I had to get up early in the morning for my appointment with the eye doctor in Lincoln.

After finding that the fuse was not blown, Larry next discovered that the blower motor with the computer components wasn’t the problem, either. So much for the new blower he’d bought. And it cannot be returned, since he took it from the box and gave it a try. 🫤

I woke up at 4:00 a.m., saw Larry still wasn’t home, and called him. He’d finally found the trouble, fixed it, and was putting the vehicle back together. The trouble, it seems, was a connector under the passenger’s seat that had barely been making contact, and finally quit entirely. Proof of this was the dark, melted area around it. It’s a wonder the vehicle hasn’t gone up in smoke and flames. It was most likely a mistake made at the factory.

Larry cut out the burnt part of the wire and spliced it back together again. And the air conditioner was working again. The switch for the variable fan speed was even working properly – and that has been faulty for a couple of years now, going from very high to very low with no speeds in between.

I was happy about this all the way to Lincoln and home again Thursday.

It would not continue.

Yesterday morning on the way to church, I noticed the fan speed was back to its old tricks of going from full blast to nearly off. Early last evening we were almost to the church (during the hottest part of the day, of course) when the air conditioner abruptly went off entirely. Even the rear air turned off; that’s new and different.

I barely got my window rolled down a few inches when it all came back on again.

What in the world. Maybe the splice failed?

Thursday morning, I went to the eye doctor in Lincoln for the Botox injections I get for Benign Essential Blepharospasm. It rained enough on the way that I didn’t have to stop and scrub the bugs off the windshield.

The drive takes an hour and 45 minutes. I got there 20 minutes early. Annnd... the doctor was running late. Isn’t that just the way?! It’s another of Murphy’s Laws, I’m pretty sure.

It never takes him much longer than three or four minutes for my treatment.

The doctor always tells me, “It’ll take 3 to 5 days before you notice any difference” – but every time I get the shots, I can tell a difference within half an hour.

After the eye treatment was over, I went to Aardvark Antique Mall. This large building is all divided up into booths and display areas that people rent to sell their things. Some people have theirs all fixed up neater’n a pin – and some people’s booths look like a hoarder’s house. Some meticulously set up an attractive display. Others, it seems, stand back and heave Stuff & Junk at their designated corner with all their might and main.

I wonder if the way their booths look give a representation of what their houses look like? Maybe, maybe not, I suppose.

They don’t allow purses or bags in the store. My first thought, upon reading that sign on the door, is, What if my nose starts running?!!!

But then I realized I had a folded tissue in my wallet, so, “Ah’m goot!” And I marched valiantly inside, nose, tissue, and all.

I bought two hardcover books by the Scottish veterinarian, James Herriot – All Things Wise and Wonderful, and The Lord God Made Them All, for $10 apiece.

When I got home, I hunted down the other two books in the set, All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Creatures Great and Small. I found them at Abe Books, a division of Goodwill, for $8.50 and $6.50, respectively. These will be for Nathanael, since I’m calling his quilt ‘All Creatures Great and Small’.

Here’s a roller coaster just like one I had when I was little. I loved that thing. My children played with it, too. Why didn’t I save it until it was an antique, and worth lots of money?! That price tag says $285!!

I saw a number of antique quilts, too. I know, I know; fellow quilters are going to be wailing, “You didn’t buy any antique QUILTS?!!”

Nope. Quilts fall apart fast enough when they’re brand-spankin’ new. Don’t need me no quilt that’s a-gonna go to confetti the first time someone sneezes. 🤭😅

I wonder what they thought of a li’l ol’ lady rushing pell-mell through the aisles of that huge place, snapping pictures maniacally? I didn’t use my flash, so as not to draw even more attention. There weren’t very many people there, so I was mostly alone in my explorations.

If you don’t like your ancestors (or their looks), you could buy this picture (it was huge), and name and claim them.

Here’s a Wedding Ring quilt that had a tag of $75 on it. It had some noticeable quallyfobbles here and there. Those points at the tips of the melon shapes were real headaches for whoever made it!

The quilt below was being sold for $125. “Wholecloth calico backing!” the tag proclaims. I wonder why that amazed ’em so much, they had to put an exclamation mark after it?

There were some nifty pieces of furniture there, too. Wouldn’t this octagon (heptagon? hexagon? – can’t tell; can’t remember; didn’t count the sides) thing with drawers be clever for storing thread and sewing notions? But it was waaay too pricey for the likes of me: $2,450, on sale for 1,999.00!!! The tag identifies it as a ‘Pine Revolving Bolt Cabinet’.

Okay, I found similar ones online, and they are indeed octagons. And look how the drawers are made (below), so they fit together when slid into the cabinet! One has a brass name plate that reads, “The American Bolt & Screw Cabinet Pat. Applied May 12, 1903. Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A.”

The one pictured there sells for $6,200! Yikes. Now the one at Aardvark Antiques seems cheap!

I took the first picture at the Aardvark Antique Mall at 12:11 p.m. and the last picture, minutes before I checked out, at 1:35 p.m. That’s the longest amount of time I’ve spent shopping for... years. And I only bought two things.

More pictures here.

I got home around 3:00 p.m. I took a few pictures of my flowers as I was walking from the car into the house, and I got bitten by mosquitoes at least four times, and I was hurrying, too! Mosquitoes don’t usually bite me much; but those flying horses out there were bloodthirsty.

By 6:00 p.m., thunder was rumbling. I took a look at AccuWeather, and was informed that the rain would be starting... right that minute. Annnd... they were right. We were in tornado and flood watches, too.

Never mind all that, though; I was hungry. I decided it was time to pop a pizza in the oven, and go on pizza watch.

Half an hour later, someone posted this picture from Meadow Grove, 55 miles to our northwest. It was moving east. I ate another piece of pizza.

A friend was recently telling her unhappy experience of mowing her field and encountering a wasp nest. She got stung good and proper.

My niece, when she was very small, once came bursting into the house, slammed the door behind her, and then leaned against it, breathing hard. Then, “I don’t YIKE wahps!” she said fervently. “Dey toon dey heads, and dey YOOK at a leeto gril!”

Friday afternoon, a lady called from the Platte County Fair to tell me that I’d gotten Grand Champion for The Mane Event, Reserve Champion for Starry Night Wolves, and Best of County for Safari Animals.

I was somewhat surprised about The Mane Event, because a) I didn’t think to match up my diagonal quilting lines from one ‘frame’ (around the horse pictures) to another, and b) there are two or three areas of bad tension on the back.

I’m glad Safari Animals got Best of County, as it will now be in a special division at the State Fair – and the quilting on it, at least, is fine.

Hester later sent me a picture of the quilts in the locked display cabinet where they keep winning items. Too bad they have to fold the quilts; the wolf panel doesn’t even show, nor do all the safari animals or the horses. There’s not enough room to hang them anywhere, I guess.

Saturday, I was sewing away when I paused to sip some Cold Brew coffee and to look out the window. A fledgling English sparrow came flying along, pumping hard with his little wings, like a toddler pedaling a tricycle for all he’s worth. He landed on the tiptop of one of the Blue spruce trees out front. He sat there for a time, looking about at the big, wide world. A tuft of cotton from a nearby cottonwood tree came floating along on the breeze. The little bird tilted his head to look at it. As it drifted over his head, he tilted farther... farther... and still farther, watching it as it went. And then, whooaaaa, whoooaaa, whoooaaa! ((flap flap flap)) He nearly fell off the little sprig on which he was perched, from all that tilting. 😂

Someone on a big online quilting group posted a picture of a modern whole-cloth quilt. The quilter works her designs on her computer and has them printed as whole-cloth designs, which she then quilts with intricate quilting.

One lady took exception: “interesting but somehow I question is this quilting? sewing over a printed piece of material whether self designed or premade design does this qualify as quilting?” (I, in turn, question whether the above qualifies as good English, good punctuation, good capitalization, or good manners.)

Someone answered, “Whole cloth quilting has a very long tradition. She actually designs the whole cloth rather than just using a large piece of single-color fabric.”

This is quite true. The earliest known whole-cloth quilts can be traced back to ancient Egypt, with quilted clothing found on an ivory figure dating to 3400 B.C. In Europe, whole-cloth quilting was used in medieval times for clothing and armor padding. Later, in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, whole-cloth quilts became more common in Europe, particularly in Britain, and were used for bed coverings, bed hangings, and petticoats. Also in the 18^th century, whole-cloth quilts were brought to America by settlers or imported, often made of linen and wool blends like ‘linsey-woolsey’. Whole-cloth quilts long remained popular, with a heyday in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

The next lady to answer that first naysayer was not as tolerant as the first: “You can always grow your own cotton, chop, pick, clean, card, spin thread, weave, dye, print, use scissors and cardboard templates, hand piece, hand quilt, and hand bind as you wish.” hee hee

By 10:00 p.m., I had the last wide border sewn onto Nathanael’s quilt. There are two narrow borders to go.

Sunday morning when I refilled the bird feeders, I could hear baby cardinals chirping for food nearby.

It was our son-in-law Bobby’s 45^th birthday that day. We gave him a jar – a month’s supply – of the supplement ‘Morning Kick’ and a box of Nature’s Bakery Oatmeal Crumble Apple bars.

After church last night, we picked up an order of groceries at Walmart, put gas in the Mercedes, and then got ice cream at Hy-Vee to go with the rest of the fruit salad.

As we pulled into the parking lot, a helium balloon went floating off to the northwest, gaining altitude as it went. Reckon some kid over to the southeast is now wailing?

This morning I picked up my quilts and their accompanying pretty ribbons at Ag Park, where our County Fair is held each year. I discovered that, in addition to the three ribbons the lady had told me about, Levi’s Heaven & Nature Sing quilt had garnered a Judge’s Choice ribbon rosette. Carolyn’s Nine Kittens quilt had a 2^nd-place ribbon in its category (Quilts for Juveniles).

I always appreciate the notes the judges write, whether critical or complimentary. The complimentary ones cater to my ego; the critical ones often improve my technique. 😉

Now I need to enter some quilts – three is the maximum allowed – in the State Fair. I’ll do it online. Safari Animals, below, will be in a special ‘Best of County’ category.

Hannah and I were text-chatting earlier, and she was telling of Levi’s driving practice. He’s 15, and has a learner’s permit. “He was driving out in the country, and the road was changing from gravel to dirt, so I wanted him to make a U-turn,” she said. “He misunderstood my directions, and I told him that instead of a U-turn, he made a Q-turn.”

“You should just be able to step on the accelerator and crank the wheel around to wind up going the other direction, in such cases,” I advised helpfully.

“Yikes,” exclaimed Hannah. “Don’t tell him that! 😵‍💫😰🤣”

One of my late father-in-law Lyle’s friends once did that at 70 mph in his Corvette on the highway outside of Trinidad, Colorado – with Lyle in the passenger’s seat.

Lyle informed him as soon as they were safely headed the opposite way, “If you ever do that again, supposing we live through it, I’ll kill you.”

The friend was just leery enough that Lyle meant what he said that he never did it again – at least not with Lyle in tow, he didn’t.

The air conditioner in the Mercedes worked fine this morning, though the switch has practically no variation from high to low.

I got up before 6 this morning and had a waffle square with syrup for breakfast. Some time after noon, I ate a handful of nuts and a quarter of a bagel. By 5:30 p.m., I was half starved half to death, and decided I really needed some cheesy scrambled eggs.

Feeling generous with myself, I cooked three extra-large eggs and added about an eighth cup of shredded cheese to them.

It filled me up nicely, which made me wonder how many calories I’d just consumed, since that would play a hand in anything else I might eat before bedtime. It seems an extra-large egg has about 80 calories; so three would contain approximately 240 calories. An eighth cup of shredded cheese (this was a combination of Monterey Jack, cheddar, queso quesadilla, and asadero) contains about 65 calories. Therefore, I had just scarfed down 305 calories.

A couple of hours later, I had a bowlful of fresh fruit – strawberries, pineapple, peaches, and blueberries. And with that, I’m clear full; that’s enough for me today! 😋

The Double Rose of Sharon Hibiscus bush (top right) that Victoria planted about ten years ago is in bloom. It’s gotten huge, and is several feet above my head now.