Donna Dewberry meets a windowpane.  Mom, I think you could do that.

 My Mundane Monday...

Been having a good time all around.  I'm sure there must have been some less than pleasant moments... I just can't think what they were right now.  No problem with that! 

Spent Monday with Sandy- and Janet.  Janet fixed us breakfast.  I can't remember the last time I sat down to a breakfast that someone else cooked.  How cool was that? Everything tastes better when someone else cooks!  Sandy and I trimmed the two quilts that I quilted up for clients.  It's amazing how much easier that chore is with an extra set of hands.  We then decided to get into a completely pointless project.  A smallish wallhanging.  Just 'cause we liked the pattern.  Or, rather, we liked the picture of the pattern.  There was no pattern.  But it was all just HST and a few squares so how hard could it be?  Sandy was being a pill and insisted that I pick out the fabric- from her stash.  She has an extensive stash and quantity of fabric wasn't the issue.  I just seemed to be blocked.  I dithered and finally settled on two colorways.  I got mine pieced and decided that, meh, it left me cold.  Sandy then had a good laugh 'cause she knew that the set I had chosen to sew was more suited to her tastes- and I had just sewn hers for her.  The other set was mysteriously less sewn.  Could that have been part of the plan?  So we switched and I'm playing with getting mine together.  I don't know what I was thinking- pink?  Really?  I have two pieces of pink in my stash and I'm purt' near sure they came from Sandy- who does a whole lot of pink. This is the one that was supposed to be hers but became mine after I sewed hers... well, yeah, it's confusing.  Suffice to say, I got one I like and she got one she likes.  But I am missing four yellow blocks...

Well, the second time sewing the same pattern did come a little easier...

  Got my hair revamped, today.  Must be a drastic change as the kids keep staring and John(15y) has threatened to tie me up and interrogate me as to the location of his mother.  I didn't know he cared.  Just for fun, I keep giving him the sneaky evil eye.  I couldn't really afford it, but then I remembered that I had some money in my wallet for an emergency.  Emergencies are subjective.  And by shopping at the thrift store, I even had enough money left over to buy some new, cheery, clothes.  Who says you have to wear dull colors just because it's winter?  And honestly, where is winter?  I do believe it got into the mid 70's today.  Bizarre weather for this time of year.  So between the new hair and new clothes... maybe the kids are right and I'm a secret agent infiltrating their home.  I just don't see the point in that...

They don't make 'em like that anymore... Paul in his element

 I'm sure there's more mundane news, but it's all a blur.  Not a bad thing, I'm thinkin'. Have a great week! ~nines                

Friday Favorites....

Just snagging a minute in between kitchen time.  Company for lunch, dinner and another lunch- all in two days.  Love it, but the ole dogs are barkin'- time to sit- but only for a minute!  Yes, I'm feeling 100% better, so thanks for asking.

The Pilot Frixion pen. This is my favorite pick for the week.  I'm confident that it'll be one of your favorites, too.  If you sew or quilt, this little product must find it's place into your box of tools.  I love mine!!  This pen isn't advertized as a sewing notion- but a pen that's erasable with the little rubber tip at the end.  Apparently, it creates friction on the paper and erases the pen.  But what is friction?  You're so smart!  Yep, it's heat.  Draw all you want on fabric and just glide over it with your iron.  Completely disappears.  And I mean completely.  No trace, no shadow, no nothin'!!  way cool.

 

You don't have to press and scrub with the iron, either. Think about it, if a little friction from a rubber tip makes it dissappear, just how amazing an iron would work.  (I haven't tried it but I can almost gaurantee that the clothes dryer would work, as well.) Can you imagine the applications?  Quilting lines, embroidery lines, applique tracing, placement marks, any marks on fabric that you don't want to be permanant. 

Wanna know another reason I love mine?  You can pick up a package of three- in different colors- for just about $5 at Target. (red, blue, black) They come in other colors, also- different set.  But what a great deal.  You might think that it doesn't take much to make me happy, but these little pens pack a lotta bang for the buck.

No Whining Wednesday...


Just in case you haven't figured that out.  I caught some kind of bug and I haven't been feelin' so hot.  And whining about that would be redundant, eh?

artwork by Bekah  "the weeping princess." 

 My Mundane Monday...

I'm a little late on this post.  I tend to write in the late morning as I'm really not a morning person.  Mind you, I still get up and move around like I'm actually doing something.  But the tasks tend to be the mindless ones.  Laundry, string piecing, picking up the house, getting a head start on dinner.  But yesterday, I was busy later on in the day and didn't have time to blog.  So this morning I'll attempt to type and think at the same time.  No doubt it's a dubious business. 

Busy doing what?  I finished painting my living room. I love my 10' ceilings, but painting them... wow, what a bother!  Even with the extension pole on the roller, it's heads up and arms over head.  The cutting-in requires a 100 times up and down a tall ladder.  There are two beams across the ceiling so that makes for a lot of cutting-in.  It got to the point where it became a "you get the idea" kind of paint job.  The girls helped me cut-in the wall paint along the lower parts of the wall while, again, I was up and down the ladder on the upper parts.  With a total of 8 windows and doors in that one room...yick. But I'm done.  I'll need to get the furniture back in and then have some fun playing with new things on the wall.  (Wish I could eliminate the deer heads.  But the guys insist and I'm outnumbered.  I don't mind them too much and you do eventually get used to them, but they sure can collect dust.) I took the little ones out for the yearly candy gathering and walked about three miles through two of the nearest communities.  So worth it as I snagged two homemade caramel popcorn balls from that man on Main St.  It's a tradition, but he only made 200 this year instead of his usual 300.  The best treat ever.  All this to say, that between the ladder climbing, the above-the-head paint rolling and the three miles hiking... the discomfort is equally distributed on both the lower and upper parts of my body.

kinda yellowy green with a pale blue ceiling.

    A friend set Abe up with a bow and arrows just his size.  That is one happy camper.  He's out there as often as his sore fingers will allow and he's become quite good.  The guys have shot their deer dummy to smithereens.

the headless wonder

The weather has been brisk and gorgeous.  Sunny days and no wind to make it too uncomfortable.  The smell of woodsmoke and drying leaves in the air. I love this time of year.  My refusal to turn on the heat before Thanksgiving has the kids wearing their hoodies all day, but it'll thicken our blood and get us prepared for the winter's cold.  That's my theory.  Do your kids make faces out of their veggie soup and crackers?  I put some pasta in it (not my favorite) in an effort to get Paul to eat some- made the face-making even more fun.

Lunch time with the "little ones"

smile!

Pulled out my 301 and had forgotten how much I loved it.  Such a great sewing machine.  I love my others, but this is my absolute favorite.  If you ever have a chance to pick up one, you won't regret it.  Powerful, fast and accurate. Last week, Will got me a quilt calendar for the coming year- he's been sick by the way.  (That's why I've been able to paint all day and sew some late in the evenings.  He's rather like Hezekiah when he's sick- face to the wall and all that.) The calendar has 12 patterns by Debby Kratovil- one to go with each month's picture.  I've already started January's.  I had some bright batik FQs and thought they would make someone a cheery quilt. I'll need to buy some border fabric.

Singer 301

hmm... I'm not sure if it's bright enough...

   That's the majority of going-ons in this neck of the woods. Hope to be talking at ya in a couple days! ~nines

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.

.

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