Friday, October 06, 2006

Bushels of Apples, Soybeans and corn, and airing dirty laundry...



in that order. Aren't those a lot of apples? I hadn't planned to quilt in the apples as they are appliqued and sometimes... well, it's just best to let 'em be. But these are great big apples, and so quilted they were. I decided to quilt each apple in a different texturing pattern. I think there are something like 44 apples. Hope Aunt Isobel likes them, 'cause you know what they say, "One bad apple spoils the bushel."

The yellow field is soybeans. I had to stop and wait for a train to pass the crossing near my house the other morning on my way to work. The fields were such a lovely yellow color that I just had to get out and take a picture. I figure there are people out there who have never seen a soybean field in October. Before long, the beans will lose all their leaves and they will be these bronze spikes with seed pods on them, ready to harvest. If you look very closely in the exact center of the picture- that's my house- in a field of corn and the roof of my laundry room is that tiny white dot.

About 2 months ago, one of my dryers decided that it was tired of starting up. Can't blame it, really. It had been through the wringer- no pun intended- for a number of years- it was "harvest gold" to give you an indication of how many years. 30, I think. Well, last night the second dryer decides that it is tired of pulling all the weight around here and when I got up this morning, Bill's work clothes were still wet. oh bother. Turns out it was only a broken belt on the drum. This evening Bill did a little handy man work and it is up and running, again- better than before, because now you don't have to prop the door closed with a strip of metal threshold! He took the door catch out of the first broken dryer- along with it's perfectly good belt- and put them in the second broken dryer- which isn't broken, anymore. And to top off that perfectly thrilling story, he bought me a "new" dryer that is only 25 years old.=) So I am back in business, laundry wise. The children had moved all of the dirty laundry out of the laundry room so that Bill would have room to work on the dryers and that is why you are being treated to the dubious pleasure of seeing one side of that room! So, I showed you mine and I'd like to see yours, please.

9 comments:

Hedgehog said...

No drier for me here in Finland! They are quite rare. I do have a very cute and very tiny washer, though! Wonder what big families do? They are some in these parts....

I just love the apple quilt. It's so bright and fresh and fun.

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

In Austria dryers are not common either - we have a retracting folding clothes rack over our tub and another one that we put out on our balcony. WE do have a dryer though - it is weird - it has a water resevoir which you have to empty the water out of every load (because the dryer does not vent to the outside - apartment buildings are not built with the dryer vents). Most every toilet room has the hook-up for a washing machine (the bath tub is in a seperate room).

You seem to pack so much into every day. My Mom had 7 kids and no washing machine - one of my sisters who was a young teenager at the time saved her money and bought Mom an old washer as a surprise - she had Mom cover her eyes and go outside and Mom was soooo worried that my sister had gotten a puppy - so a washing machine really was a big surprise! We washed our clothes in big garbage containers with a special "laundry only" toilet plunger - your story of the dryer reminded me of that. Oh - and there was an old tub washer with a perfectly good wringer roller thing-y up top so the clothes could be wrung out before being hung on the clothes line! Too funny! It makes me laugh to think about it because it is almost unbelievable.

Cheers!

Evelyn

quiltpixie said...

My washer and dryer share space in the basement with the cat's litter box, the sump hole, and paint storage -- nothing anyone wants to see!!! :-)

Sarah said...

I just love morning when I get up and find a new post from my favorite blogger!!!

So now are there mountains of laundry to be done? Maybe your mom can come for a few days - she seems to have a talent for getting it all caught up!

Miss you!

Love, Sarah

Darcie said...

Wohoo for a fix-it man living in the house! I'm glad that you're back in business. I only wash for 5 of us...and if I miss a beat...well, I can only imagine what it would be like washing for double that.

I strongly dislike (my daughters say that that is better than *hate*) my laundry area. I'm thankful that I have it, yes. But it's right smack dab where you enter the house. Is that stupid, or what?! Do you want to see these in use...or tidied? ;-)

Lovely quilt!!! Advice: Please take pics of all of those textures...or doodle them on paper. You may think now that you will never forget them...better safe than sorry!

McIrish Annie said...

I can't imagine doing all the laundry that you do. A couple of years ago, my dryer latch broke on the 20 year old dryer. Fortunately, my DH is NOT as handy as your Bill and I was treated to a new dryer AND a front loading washer since the washer was 5 years older! There are only two of us now with my son in college. I only do laundry once a week. three loads total!!!

I know that is going to bring tears to your eyes!!

Super love the apple quilt.! thanks for the pic of the soybean field. wish i had that view from my laundry room which has no window.

Judy said...

Glad the dryer works again I can't imagine being without one, especially in your household. We only have 2 people and I really need mine as I've just gotten used to it! We were left the ones in our condo when we bought and they aren't pretty but they work just fine!

TYou really want a picture huh? Okay I'll put one over as soon as I can take one!

Isobel said...

Haven't been online for a week or so--technical malfuncition to begin with and then craft show interference so I was scrolling down to see your neat pics when I saw the apples and thought, wow, that's my quilt. Thanks love.

Tazzie said...

Thank you for sharing your laundry. We don't use dryers much here in Australia either. We have them only for when the weather is bad and we can't hang clothes outside.

I love your quilt ... it's super cute.

And yes ... I've shared my laundry!

*hugs*
Tazzie
:-)