Company

We have company coming!  Can you guess who?   

 

 

April 1989

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Proof of Our First Snow

Actually these pictures are from Monday, the second day of snow here.   It is still yucky in my book!

I took the pictures through the window so they aren’t the best but the white streaks are the snow flakes.   Thankfully today was super sunny and that is the forecast for the rest of the week!

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I always did like the number 8.

I checked my blog and saw that a page had linked to me.  😉  So I went to check it out.   I’m excited to report that I was listed on Word Press’s Blog of the Day….. at number 80!  Eighty?!?!?!  (Does anyone read a list that long?)

…roll on the floor laughing here….

However, at least I was listed!  :-p

thankyouverymuch!

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White…

Yes, the stuff falling out of the sky after church today was WHITE.  E-Gads!!

 

I’m back…. less than 30 mins later…. one could call it snowballs coming down.  I think it would be hail.  Yikes!

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October Quilt Guild

I am trying to catch up on blogging but the recovery from the weekend ran into a cold or something yucky and now I’m trying to catch up in lots of areas!  

Monday night Quilt Guild program was Jill & Vicki from
Sew Many Antiques.   They shared some of their patterns and classes at their shop now with us.   

This is a Block of the Month they offer.

 

Show & Tell is always great fun! 

My secret sister has been just super this year!  I have LOVED the new beads and yarns and fun fabrics to play with that she has given me.   This is what I got for October!  The little pincushion is in a mini teacup.  Darling!

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Overview of the Weekend

So besides Fabric Dyeing, what else did we do?

 

K had homework.  Some reading got done on the way to church and on the way back downtown.   She had her hat block (layers of that pink styrofoam hot glued together).   She had done the carving at school.  

Saturday she sanded it smooth. Then added paper mache’ layers. Thankfully it was dry for the return to Chicago on Sunday afternoon.   (Sunday night she had to apply layers of polyurethane to the paper mache’.   Tuesday was Hatmaking class and she put on her wool felt.)   

I drove in partway and K drove the rest of the way.   Phil got to drive home since he had the nap on the way in.  😉

So while I had Phil in the car and remembered his MIL question… I asked.   I guess the nap had made him sappy…. So his favorite MIL asked about getting 1/2 a hog when they are out.   He replied, “What will she do with the other half?”  Which made the car erupt with laughter.  :-p  (We’ll take care of the other half, Mom.)  

Which then led K to remember the conversation at the last staff meeting…. Someone said, “Did you know you can buy half of a cow?”  “Oh gross!”  

None of this sounds odd to she who grew up with such talk, however she is one among many.  😉  She seeks to educate them in a better way.  🙂

After we arrived at her building, I found myself again… hanging out in the alley.   I had a quilt catalog to occupy me.   They only took an armload each up to her room. Of course, there she found a note from a resident seeking her help.  

We drove to the street of her previous building for a parking place and walked around a bit.   The streets were cool and breezy but quiet.  

The Daley Plaza was set up with that fall “holiday” type tents and such.   I was glad the vendors were closed by then.   However, a large screen was set up, benches facing it and speakers facing the crowd.   About 75 were huddled with heavy coats and hoods over their heads watching a free showing of ET.  Movies are scheduled for the next few weekends.  It would be a bit too cool for me.  

K thought she should return to assist the resident-in-need so we drove her back to her home.   Not such a problem upon further investigation but it was time for us to head home as well.  

We arrived home at 10:10 p.m.  T I R E D.  I love having her home but the visits sure are short.

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Fabric Cards

I have made quite a few fabric cards in the last 2 years or so.  I enjoy them and hope the recipients do as well.   Most are about 8″ x 10″ or 9″ x 11″.   They fit in a small padded envelope or a flat rate priority envelope.   

Last week I had several on my mind so made several cards.  First I made a background.

During the night before I made these I was given the idea that I wanted fall colors, a tree in navy, and a Bible verse.   That morning I found a tree image and figured out how to make it navy.  Then I did a Bible search online and found one on seasons.  All of us are in a season of life.   I printed the images on muslin (adhered to freezer paper) with my printer.  

I played around with fabrics until I decided on what I wanted to do.

Then I sewed my items down and added some leaf quilting.

I love the idea of these… my struggle is that I like the messy look but don’t pull it off when I get down to work.  I think I need more play time.

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Happy Birthday Dad!!

 

Today my dad is 85!  🙂  

Siblings - My dad is the youngest in this picture. Around 1926 or so.

So when I was making fabric cards last week, I added this darling picture to my dad’s.  

fabric card

This was from 2007 I think.

Dad & Me

I’m sorry I can’t be with you for your birthday today so I hope you have a good one anyway!  (I hope you found 2 cards in your envelope.)

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Fabric Dyeing

In a few of her classes, K has hand dyed a project whether it be a hat or fabric.  She now knew just enough to get me going with dyeing fabric.  🙂

I was fortunate to have found Kona cotton at a chain store :-p for about $4 a yard so had stocked up with 11+ yds.  

We were ready!!  K brought home 6 jars of Procion dye & soda ash.  I had the fabric, salt, and equipment.

pile of fabric ready to dye

 We worked in the basement in the little shower so we had access to water and didn’t get dye in the wrong place.  It was a tad chilly for us to work outside.

Here are the fabrics in the dye buckets.

Brown Rose, Hot Pink, Bronze

Olive, Turquoise, Raspberry

 

Ready to rinse them out.

And then we thought we’d hang them outside to drip dry!  Isn’t this funny!!

Even tho we had rinsed them out before drying, it hit me on Sunday that we should have rinsed them in Synthapol!  >head smack!<  So on Monday I did that.  Oh dear – it is a good thing I did!  Synthapol helps set the dye and rinse out the excess.  We still had lots of excess in there.  That would have made a disaster when I went to use the fabric in a project.   {lets not go there….}

Finally today I finished ironing all 6 pieces.  This makes me happy and has me anxious to do more.   I’m thinking this will be a great way for me to get an assortment for my Wildflower quilt I’d love to do someday without buying a zillion batiks.  We’ll see.  Don’t worry… I’ll tell you all about it!  😉  

Here they are!  

Avocado

Bronze - light touch

Brown Rose

Hot Pink

Raspberry

Turquoise

And the whole lot ~

All 6 fabrics

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Welcome!

I’m so glad you found me here in my new blog home.   Please leave a comment and let me know you found me here.  {What is super cool is that with Word Press, if you don’t have an avatar registered with them, your avatar for me will be a quilt block.  😀  }

I’m still in a bit of recovery mode from the weekend and last night’s quilt guild meeting but my goal is to have fabric dyeing pictures up by Wednesday.   Bear in mind, the to-do list has soapmaking and lotion making on it as well.  

Phil is busy with corn and JP helps out when he can.  JP is helping Gpa move a load now and will finish his Math for today when he gets back.   K is at Hatmaking class today, has an RA sponsored program tonight (“Avoiding the SAIC Cold” 😉 ), and a staff meeting late tonight.   

K – your box is “in the mail”! 😀

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