my favorite because it marks ours

Friday Favorites...

I have a strange fascination for property line markers.  Yeah, bizarre, I know.  But I love driving down the county roads and noticing the variety in them.  Different shapes of concrete and steel.  How long have they been standing there?  How did they get them in just the right place?  Most of them stand all by their lonesome.

This one is massive- 2' wide and 2' deep and almost 3' tall.

scrub bushes usually grow along property lines- 'cause it ain't mine and it ain't yourn

 A whole lot of them are tangled in old fencing and fence posts.  Most aren't on corners- the road is enough of a marker- but some are.




  Some of the markers are getting swallowed up by suburbia.  Used to be farmland.



 Just a little peice of history standing as witness next to a field of corn, wheat, or soybeans.  And I just plain like 'em.

Which brings you to a tutorial on County Roads.  No, I didn't leave an "R" out of that word.  County Roads are, by definition, a country road. Ever flown over the midwest?  Wonder how they got their fields so straight and in perfect grids?  Here's how. Indiana roads, wherever possible, are set up on a grid.  Easy to do on flat land. Alot of the midwest uses the same system.  At first, the names of these roads may appear to be rather lacking in imagination, but once you understand the methodology behind it, I think you will agree that it is all very practical- at least to the natives.  And we tend to love our practicality.  First we start with the county courthouse.  Here's ours.  This becomes the center of our county road system.



Next, the roads are set up in relationship to the courthouse. And named accordingly. If you live on 250 County Road (CR) North (N) then you live on the road that is 2 1/2 miles north of the courthouse.  Simple, huh?  But that doesn't tell you exactly where on 250N- which is miles and miles wide. So then you are designated a number based on how far east or west you live from the courthouse.  Your address might read 638E CR 250N.  You live on 250N and a scootch over 6 miles east. So you'd travel north on 600E then turn west onto 250N and your house is coming up.  Ain't that hysterical??  No one around here says left or right- just north, south, east, or west.  So usually we just leave out the directions- 'cause, let's face it, that's a whole lotta Norths, Souths, Easts and Wests. Here's my address and you're on your own.  Oh, and unless that seems just way to simple... Better make sure you know what county they live in 'cause once you pass that line, all the roads change names according to the position of their courthouse!  I was driving on 700 S and all of a sudden I'm on 200N. Don't worry, there's a sign for leaving and entering counties.  And now ya know where their courthouse is, just in case ya might need some kind of legal document.  The conditions of the roads vary from county to county- I usually notice this more than the signs.

grid system of roads in relationship to the courthouse

intersection of county roads

Better be alert to these signs or you might end up in Kansas

Catch ya on the flip side!

Wednesday's Whine of the Week...

Let's cut to the chase- Televisions in restaurants.  Bugs the snot out of me. 

I'm wondering how this came to be such a common place thing.  'Cause that's what I do: I wonder about things.  Did someone say, "Wow!  I just don't think that we have enough noise and distractions in our lives.  I know!  Let's put 5 TVs in every restaurant! Brilliant!" 

And I hate to sound sexist, but you know it was a man.  It's every woman's worst nightmare.  Sitting across from her guy but his eyes are glazed over and he's looking straight through her. He can't help himself...must watch TV...must watch TV... to which I can only say with the utmost vigor- Walk away from the TV!!!  For cryin' out loud!  We women like to socialize- that's why we're going out to lunch.  Guys probably think we're hungry.  Eyes rolling. We talk, we visit, we share. I don't need the TV blaring in competition.  And what about those restaurants that mute their TVs?  Worse!  'Cause now the guy has to read the subtitles which takes even more of his attention away from what's important- it's all about me, ya know. 

And are TVs in restaurants such a great pull for business?  Still wondering about things.  What, do people actually say, "Hey, let's do lunch.  How about Joe Shmoe's?  Nah, they don't have a TV."  Are you kidding me?

Could the restaurant managers be concerned that their employees might get bored during slow times?  Just wondering.  I can't imagine.  And as you can probably tell, I can imagine alot.  Maybe they have the wrong personnel if they can't find something to do.   

OK, maybe they're catering to the lonely diner. Hey, if I want that amazing garlic jalepeno tilapia with angel hair pasta in a lemon butter sauce(Johnny Corinno's) I'm not going to skip out just because I'll have to dine alone. I think that most people that are confident enough to eat alone don't need the crutch of looking like they're not alone because they're watching TV.  I'm thinking that nobody's fooled.  And, trust me, between the other diners and the waiters, there's plenty to entertain even if you're sitting by yourself.

I must say that there was one TV in a public place that I did think was a great idea.  Truly inspired.  The waiting room in an ER.  How cool was that?  And they even had the imagination to turn the channel away from sports and the latest breaking news about some grasshopper who saved a small child from certain death- you think I'm making this stuff up?  OK, I am, but you know there's probably just such an inane story out there.  They had comedy movies running.  I never saw so many smiling faces in the ER.  Let's face it, no one is sitting in that waiting room for social reasons.  You don't want to talk.  You just want the time to go by faster.  You actually want to be distracted.  Mission accomplished.  Amen and great job.

But leave the TV's out of the restaurants!

Alien invasion brought to you by Abe.          

My Mundane Monday...
Had a lovely week, how about you?  No real rush to finish anything or get somewhere or any of that stuff that stresses a body.  It's all good.  A little rain, a little sunshine.

John, Eva and Jacob's friend, Mary, all passed their hunter's education course. John(15y) made a 99, Eva(12y) a 92, and Mary(17y) a 100!  I'm real proud of all of them.  Here's Jacob, Mary, Eva, William, and Abe after some target practice.  Deer season is coming up and meat in the freezer would  be a good thing.

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Did a "little bit" of paper peicing.  This is a "Little Bits" pattern.  Enjoyed it.  Made it from hand dyed fabric by Darcie, Sarah, and Sandy and myself. Tissue paper really is easier to paper peice than copy paper. Maybe I'll get it quilted in time for next Halloween.  No rush.



The children are learning the themes to all the books of the Bible- and I along with them. They're working on them during bible class on Sunday, but we've been spending some extra time on them here at home. After about 17 books, things can get a little blurry so the girls and I came up with this little chart- all books of the Old Testament on the pumpkins and their themes on the leaves.  We stir up the leaves and then we'll try to sort them out- they attach with little bits of velcro.  We also play a hide and seek game with the themes- seeing how fast we can find them and get them on the chart.  How wonderful it'll be to know the theme of each book in the Bible!  "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6.  If anyone would like the list, I'd be glad to email it to you.

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Finally, I had some fun playing with postcards.  Sandy keeps her excess bobbin unwindings for me and I entomb them on a postcard.  I just layer them in between the backing fabric and a peice of netting.  I stitch around the edges and a little across the top to hold everything in place.  The interesting thing about the netting is that it melts a tad when you iron the postcard top to the stabilizer- must use parchment paper.  But that melting actually holds the thread in place. Cool, huh?  I discovered that all on my lonesome.  I'm so addicted to these little projects.  With quilting, it may be weeks, months or even years until a project is finished.  Postcards offer a little instant gratification.

 




I'm gonna scoot along.  I'm working my way up to a good whine for later in the week.  See ya then! 
 ~nines

Happy Fall Y'all!

Random post.  Finished the table runner I was making for a friend.  Very pleased with how it turned out.  I seem to make quite a few table runners.  Small projects that don't take up a lot of time or fabric but brighten up the room.  Uses up those scraps of batting. It's also nice to try out new techniques and such on them.  Also a nice hostess gift.  An all around pleasant activity for an afternoon. Catch ya on the flip side. ~nines

Lindah won the drawing for the primitive sampler blocks.  Shoot me you snail mail addy to my email and we'll get the ball rolling!  congratulations!

My Mundane Monday...

Feeding frenzy!!! Pictures galore. Thought I might should show some restraint and post just a few at a time, but where would be the fun in that? It's not like I won't be taking more. I did hold back two for my Friday Favorites post. Let's dive in, shall we?

Fall has arrived. We had one day of leaves for the children. The winds clear them away in short order. Don't even own a rake. God has provided one. You'll notice Abe's goofy face- that's why I always use pictures of him as my Wednesday Whine- no need to pose him. He just has a way of being a doofus.

Been busy making bee blankets. I just love saying that. "So Nines, what have you been up to?" "Oh, I've been making bee blankets." Making them is the easy part- tucking them in...now that's the challenge. Our friend, Malcolm, keeps bees and he wanted some blankets for his hives- helps keep the moisture out in winter and keeps them from getting stressed when you open the box- no popping. Something like that. They had to be made exactly the right size- down to the 1/8th of an inch. My new serger worked lovely for the task.


Dawn and night skies. When the sun rises this window covering glows. Love that. Makes me smile when I get up. It covers the window in the door that leads to my porch- directly across from my bed. The moon was showing off the other night- lighting up the clouds around it.




Mending jeans...sigh. Not my favorite thing to do. Son John is a monkey and he's been helping his dad work on a couple friends' roofs. (How do you pronounce "roof"? Around here we say "ruff." Funny, huh?) He is very "ruff" on his knees. And they get so stained. No point in buying new ones as he will ruin them in a couple days- so they get patches. The only way to patch knees in pants with such long legs is to rip out the side of the legs- the one that isn't a flat felt seam.  You just can't get the sewing machine down the leg far enough. I usually do the ripping once I get settled into bed for the night. Not too bad of a chore, but don't tell John that. I want him to appreciate my hard work. With six sons, patching jeans could be a full time job.


A day at Bob and Jane's farm. These pictures pretty much speak for themselves.  Thought my dad would like the picture of the the spiffy tractor:

Isn't that pretty? A garden decoration made from a plate and a couple bowls with a fancy vintage door knob in the middle. All glued together with some kind of clear heavy-duty glue. The stem is a painted length of rebar. I want one!

You lookin at me?  Why yes I are!



Did you make it all the way down here? Well that deserves a chance at a little reward. I was going through my project bin and decided that this project wasn't one I wanted to finish up. Time to pass it on. The blocks are pretty, but just not me(you know I usually prefer more vivid colors) and I don't know anyone who would like the primitive style. (There's a primitive wallhanging I'll be giving away before Christmas- If that's your style, stay tuned for that.) I have 13 out of the 15 blocks sewn and the patterns and fabrics for the remaining two blocks packaged up. The blocks measure 5" finished. I'm also including almost a yard of some coordinating Moda fabrics. The project is Cheri's "Soot and Ashes" design and I've included her website and dates so that you can check out how she arranged it- or you can do your own thing. You could probably get it done in time for a Christmas gift... Just indicate in your comment that you'd like it- if there's more than one, I'll draw a name. It's good to be back!

Nines is frustrated and she's walking away until she gets some tech support.





Funny thing... I hate tedious. Weird, 'cause I love to quilt and let's face it- quilting seems to be pretty accurately described as "tedious." And maybe if I were sewing a gajillion half inch triangles together... yeah, I could see where that would be a game I wouldn't be playing. I'd leave that to someone else.



I find figuring out the mysterious language of computers tedious. I just do. My computer died last week. Something with the hard drive. So a friend is working on that. Meanwhile- six hours before it died, he gave us an older computer. Talk about weird. But timely. Works good. Just can't figure out how to upload pictures. And wouldn't ya know? I've got a lot of pictures to share. Supposed to get my other computer back tonight, so maybe in the next few days someone(else) will figure out how to re-install some software and I'll be able to post with pictures. I hear they're worth a thousand words- and with me already being gabby... pictures are good.

Be talkin' to ya! ~nines

My Mundane Monday...

How did that happen????!!! Another week, come and gone, already? Really?

This'll be brief. For me. I'm tired and ready to flop down with a movie. I fantasize about curling up with my Kindle and soaking up a new book- but by the time the day is ending- I'm just too pooped to read. That's a fact.

Cute block, huh? Hold your applause- I'm blushing. Aren't I just the bee's knees for figuring out how to get all those stripes in the same direction on the diagonal. Yeah, I'm one smart cookie. Just brilliant. Oh alright, it was 100% accidental and pure coincidence. Maybe all stripes line up like that when you're making quarter square triangles. I have no earthly idea how that happens. But it looks nice, doesn't it? I'm making a table runner for my friend, Angie. Just need to put the sashings and the cornerstones on- then the quilting and the binding. Shouldn't take too long if I can fit it into my schedule.



I've actually been making nubbin blocks, again, after a long sabbatical. My aim is to sew up enough of them to make an entire quilt using only nubbin blocks. No sashing, no borders. I have hundreds and I wonder how close I am to my goal... might need to do a little sewing/joining to get some idea of how many I have- and how many I'll need- to make a queen-sized quilt. Yeah, yeah, I could sit down with a piece of paper and a calculator and figure it all out- but where's the fun in that? The mystery is part of the allure of quilting. The unknown. The suspense. The sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thrill... Wow, I need a life.