Sunday Sundry 10-29-17

We didn't have many trick-or-treaters this evening, maybe only a couple dozen in total.  It was pretty cold, in the mid-40s, so that may have been a factor.

When I was a kid, I remember trick-or-treating in all sorts of weather.  The most extreme was during a sleet storm.  But no amount of stinging ice pellets was going to prevent me from crunching across the frozen lawns, half-suffocating behind a plastic princess mask, and opening the soggy maw of my pillowcase on the neighbors' porches.

Did you come home and sort your candy stash like we did?  Sweet-Tarts, Smarties and Pixie Stix in one pile, fake banana flavored chewies, Bit-O-Honey, Tootsie Rolls and Milk Duds in another.  Suckers, Tootsie Pops and Slo Pokes over here, gumballs and bubblegum cigars there.  Finally, closest to me—my precious—went the candy bars and M&Ms, to be hoarded and protected from my siblings at all costs.  Once in a while, a random apple made it home in the bag.  More often than not, though, they were employed as organic missiles along the route from house to house.

One year my mom had the idea of making popcorn balls for Halloween.  This sounded good, in theory, but you'd have to know my mom to appreciate the anxiety this triggered.  She was an inspired cook, yes, but also a master procrastinator with an internal clock seemingly set a couple time zones behind.  What could go wrong?

I remember the doorbell ringing with the first trick-or-treaters before her sugar syrup had even reached the soft-ball phase.  Then pandemonium ensued, and my dad was sharply commanded to assist as emergency sous-chef, all voices escalating to near-panic levels.

Meanwhile, knowing some of the kids on the porch were likely friends, I wanted nothing more than to melt straight into the floor.  Since that wasn't a viable option, the second best thing to do was don my mask and loot bag and skedaddle out the back door on my own personal candy quest.

Well after trick-or-treat hours, I returned home to a kitchen full of popcorn balls.  And I'm pretty sure that what I sensed in the air, aside from the lingering aroma of popped corn and sticky sugar, was the forswearing of any such artisanal creations ever again!

The Internet Thinks I'm Elderly...and a Badass

You know how when you're on a website, be it Facebook or any number of other places, and you get served ads?  And those ads are supposedly for items that somebody somewhere has decided may be relevant to you?

Well, apparently the internet thinks I'm elderly...but also kind of a badass.

The number of decades I have been lucky to walk this earth can still be counted on one hand (and, okay, up to the first joint of another finger on the other), so I hardly feel elderly. 

The ads are based on my browsing or shopping history, I'm sure, but orthopedic shoes?  

My feet may be the size of small kayaks, but I just want a supportive walking shoe, is all.  I walk a couple miles a day for health and enjoyment (and to re-listen to all the Outlander books along the way).  Can I help it that I have to wind my way through the narrow alleyways of a half dozen online vendors in search of a decent shoe in my size—available in white only, of course—to find what I need?

Now I'm also seeing a lot of floral polyester blouses being marketed to me.  Which might be okay if I were an extra on the set of Maude.

(I kind of dig her outfit, actually.)

But the kicker came last week when Facebook served up an ad for a 10-pound steel mace.  Because?

Beats me (pun!).  Because a gal needs an outlet for that pent up, middle-age rage, I guess. 

And a kettlebell looks too much like an old lady purse!

Sunday Sundry 3-12-17

As Zep would say:  "It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time..."

Maybe not so lonely, in my case, but a long time between posts for sure.  Unfortunately for you, dear reader, I have no harrowing tale of being abducted by aliens to account for being MIA.  Just, you know, life.

On the subject of aliens, though, two things (Already with the tangents? Yes, indeed!):  (1)  This Saturday Night Live skit never fails to crack me up.  (2)  Arrival.  Good movie.

* * * * *
Here on the home front, I have finished a couple of kennel quilts from repurposed scrubs. 

First, a pretty basic one, alternating a solid and a print.  The back is also entirely from scrubs.

Next, a Gee's Bend-style housetop quilt.  The wine and cheese themed fabric on the back was a thrift store find.

I made a scrappy bias binding from scrubs, because I'd opted to maintain the wonky, slightly bowed nature of this free-pieced strippy quilt.  I deliberately did not square it up whatsoever.  Amazingly, it lies completely flat with no ripples, which is better than some of my squared up quilts.  Since the poly-cotton blend scrubs were washed and worn many times over, the quilt has a wonderful soft drape to it, and is cozy warm. 

It was hard to capture the true vibrancy of the solid colors in this quilt, but it is better looking in real life.  I like it so much, I may have to hang onto it a little while before it (literally) goes to the dogs.

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It's March, and that means it's time to get in on some fun quilt making for the benefit of other people.  Sarah has just kicked off the 2017 Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge!

Click on over to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for all the details and to sign up.  I always enjoy participating in this annual event to make quilts for a number of good causes (or a local one of your choosing).  And, as always, there are great prizes!

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How it went down yesterday on our trip to W@lmart:

That moment when you come up behind your spouse who's pushing the cart at the store and go to toss something in, but he doesn't know you're there and veers to the right, so the item lands on the floor, and the guy coming the opposite way looks up from his phone at just the right moment, like you might be a crazy person who randomly throws things on the floor in other people's paths. Meanwhile the spouse just keeps moving down the aisle. I hate when that happens.

* * * * *
My dad is happy to be back home and out of the rehab center after his ankle fracture and surgery.  He's still non-weightbearing on the left leg for several more weeks.  Here he is relaxing in his new lift chair.

The day he came home, we had a freak hailstorm.  It was as if Mother Nature decided to throw him a ticker-tape parade, complete with her own version of confetti.

Personally, I could have done without having to shovel pea and marble-sized hail off the wheelchair ramp so he could get in the house, but you do what you have to do.  I got it cleared off in the nick of time, just as my sister was driving in with him.

* * * * *
What with everything going on after the first of the year, it took a while for us to get around to downloading all of our Christmas pictures.  I thought this was a pretty nice one of my siblings and me (on right).

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I changed up my Pyrex display in December.  Since snow is still in the forecast here, I don't feel bad that it's still up, although probably not much longer.

The tree out front has a great sap-sicle going on.  We had it trimmed recently when it was warmer (upper 40's), and then it got cold again. Seeing one of these on a river birch tree was a first for me.

Winter in the Upper Midwest:  It ain't over 'til it's over!

Sunday Sundry 11-20-16

It's been a rough couple of weeks, folks. I am continuing to process.

I read a beautiful thing this past week on the blog The Irish Aesthete. Click the link to read the short post in its entirety (and enjoy the accompanying photos of gorgeous garden paths), but the essence of it was this: 

"...For all its failings and foibles, the human spirit is resilient. So too is the urge, the need to create beauty, even in the midst of turmoil and disorder. The determination of previous generations to overcome adversity, and to find the beautiful in the midst of ugliness can serve as our own inspiration."

Yes.  Let's continue creating in our own unique, expressive, beautiful ways. Finding inspiration, starting conversation.

* * * * *

In addition to the Quilty 365 daily circle project (which I admittedly do not do daily, but often 3, 5, or 10 at a time), I put together this little half-square triangle piece from the leftover cut-off corners of the Precious Gems quilt top.

This piece is only about 36 inches square, so I'm thinking of adding borders or some such thing to bring it to a size I can use as a backing for that quilt top.

* * * * *

Other things I've been doing:

—Rearranging some things in the sewing space.  I sew in the basement and share the space with the usual basement dwelling items of a non-sewing nature. I recently bought a few things at an office rummage sale, and I've swapped out an old desk and two old 2-drawer filing cabinets for a 4-drawer cabinet and a standing-height table for the computer.  There's really a mishmash of  stuff down there, and it's a constant work in process to organize, purge, and ponder use of the space.  It'll never look like something out of House Beautiful, not even close, but I'm happy enough with recent improvements.

—Scanning old photos and memorabilia.  A military historian within the family reached out to us recently regarding my late father-in-law, who served in the the 7th Armored Division during the Battle of the Bulge.  I needed to delve into the information I had, and since I was in the middle of reorganizing anyway, this has led down a new bunny trail, one I'm happy to take, but it is a bit overwhelming.

—Waking up at odd hours of the early morning and not being able to sleep...3:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:00 a.m.  On the plus side, I got a photo of the Supermoon a couple hours before sunrise. 

—Discovering new music.  Like the latest release from Dawes, and The Muddy Magnolias.  Whew, those girls can sing!

—Watching Versailles.  Because I'm still not over the fact they killed off Athelstan on Vikings, and Versailles is easing my George Blagden withdrawals.

—Generally, just being grateful.  For all of the above and more.  For the mild fall weather (up until this weekend), perfect for walking.  For homemade beef stew and apple crisp.  For friends and kind people.  For laughter and tears.

There is much to appreciate as we head into Thanksgiving, and every day.  What comes to mind for you?

Sunday Sundry 10-16-16

We took a road trip the first week of October, which came about in part due to a shift in employment for me.  One of my part-time jobs was ending because the doctor was retiring, but before I ramped up my hours on my other job, Norm and I decided to hit the road.  

I'd never been out in the direction of Mount Rushmore, something I've always wanted to see, and it seemed a driveable distance, given our timeline, and a decent time of year to go.  So we headed west!

Some of the highlights were:   Badlands National Park...

 

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial...

Devil's Tower, Wyoming...

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs...

There were so many other interesting things to see.  I wanted to learn more about Native American culture, so we stopped at the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center  on the grounds of the St. Joseph Indian school at Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Fascinating history in the exhibits and information as we toured the museum.  

I found particularly interesting to read about the history of quilting among the Sioux culture.

 

After we left the museum, we paused to see the new 50-foot sculpture installed along I-90 near Chamberlain.  It's called "Dignity" and depicts a Native young woman receiving a star quilt.  According to sculptor Dale Lamphere, “Dignity represents the courage, perseverance and wisdom of the Lakota and Dakota culture in South Dakota. My hope is that the sculpture might serve as a symbol of respect and promise for the future."

It was 37 degrees and raining steadily when I hopped out and took this photo.  But it's a beautiful and inspiring piece, rain or shine.   

There were a couple stops at quilt shops along the way, notably Calico Hutch in Hayward, MN and Heartsong Quilts in Hot Springs, SD.  I could have spent hours (and more money) at both stores, they were fantastic!  As time was limited and we had to be moving on, I was happy to find out I could visit them anytime online.  

I did some stash replenishing between those two, as well as shopping the 50% off clearance fabric sale at Jo-Ann on Columbus Day when I got home.

I addressed my deficit of low volume fabrics in the stash, and I think I did okay.

The last hotel we stayed at on the way back, Microtel in Rochester, MN, had some interesting carpeting in the hallway.  

Quilt inspiration is everywhere!

Monday, right?

I woke up this morning unsure of what day it was.  That doesn't happen very often, and maybe it was because I was coming down out of a whopper of a dream, wherein I had discovered I had a head tattoo in the shape of a red multi-line zigzag pattern underneath my hair.  When I mentioned it to someone, they informed me I also had a matching tattoo on my back, which I was unaware of.  Why didn't anyone inform me of this before?  Oh right, because it happened during the time I was kidnapped and lost my memory; I forgot.

Yeah, that made sense.

So as the dream faded, I was glad to realize today was Monday, not Saturday, not Sunday, and also that my scalp was tattoo-free.  Not that there's anything wrong with head tattoos, if that's your thing.  I would only hope you remember why they're there.

Perhaps I was dreaming about patterns because I've been binge-watching Vikings, in which there are indeed head tattoos, but more interesting to me are the beautifully simple and colorful patterns on their shields.  I am not much into the battle scenes and ensuing gore, but am happy to zone out during the mayhem whilst admiring the variety of shields.  I am counting it as quilt inspiration.

I had my ancestry DNA analyzed this past summer and was surprised to find in the motley mix a portion of Scandinavian ancestry.  Having known next to nothing, until recently, about Viking history, how far and wide they ranged (to put it politely), it now kind of makes more sense.  

What does not make sense, in terms of the Vikings TV series, is why—why-oh-why—can they not BATHE?!  I mean, they live on the coast of the sea (water).  They pilot great ships to distant lands (in the middle of copious amounts of water).  It rains a lot (more water).  So why does the main character have to constantly look like he just emerged from a coal mine and rolled downhill, past the slaughterhouse, and into a pig sty?  

Granted, Travis Fimmel is quite pretty in real life, so maybe they feel they have to muss him up to look Ragnar Lothbrok tough. 

I said to my husband as we embarked on Season 2, "It's like the makeup department on set has a vat of stuff called 'Viking Grunge' which they apply liberally."  I don't know, but it makes me want to take a long soak in a hot tub on his behalf.

Well, I didn't intend to get so carried away by the Viking theme, but there it is.  And one more thing:  The Last Kingdom.  Netflix it.  That is all.

But wait, there's more:  I finished the Hunter's Star quilt top.

And put together a backing and binding.

The backing is a vintage thrift store find I've had in the stash for years.  Burnt orange and pea green were all the rage in the mid-to-late 1970s.  My first car was a used 1976 Pontiac Ventura muscle car in burnt orange (with genuine rust accents).  Can't say I've seen too many tulips or whatnot in burnt orange/rust, but I love the funky print and am glad to have found a use for a big ole swath of it on the back of this quilt.

I used up a lot of the batik scraps and stash.  It measures about 56 inches square.  A nice throw or lap quilt size, for sure.  I might have liked it a little bigger, and the outer border in the blue batik versus the green, but when you're using up what you have, it is what it is.  Anyway, I like the surprise of green. 

Happy Solstice

Happy longest day of the year, Northern Hemisphere!  Also Happy June Full Strawberry Moon!  Which kind of sounds like a sketchy movie title, if you think about it: "Happy June's Full Strawberry Moon."  I think I'll pass on that film, thank you.

I have an unexpected free evening due to a glitch at work.  Of course, it's not really free because that means tomorrow I'll do double duty, but let's live in the moment.  In a little while, I'll take a nice walk as the sun goes down.  I feel like I should do something more than that, it being the solstice and all.  Like, oh, I don't know, twirl around in a stone circle with a couple of paper lanterns and a precious jewel tucked into my gauzy frock, all while singing the theme from Outlander? 

Sing me a song of a lass who is gone...say, could that lass be I?

Nope, still here.

It was Day 9 of the 21-Day Decluttering Challenge yesterday and the task was to "declutter your hobby."  And then I laughed and laughed!  But she added, "Or a hobby you no longer enjoy."  Okay, that's doable in a day.  I made a donation pile of vintage knitting, crochet, and cross stitch books because I no longer do those things, and drove said pile directly to Goodwill along with three other boxes of junk from Days 1-8 of the challenge. 

But before taking that drive, I happened to thumb through one of the books and saw this.  Moppets!

What in the ridiculous world?  

I think Moppets deserves a good caption.  "Moppets: For chills or spills!"

Eh, that's all I've got at the moment, but maybe you can think of one.  Leave it in the comments!

Summer Light

Even though I no longer have a school-age kid, I still think of June, July, and August as summer vacation.  Do you, too?  I love this time of year, right now, when the days are long and the possibilities seem to stretch as far as the sunset.  That sense of space and light and freedom.

It may or may not surprise you that I have no particular plans for the coming months, except to enjoy them day by day.  There are no big excursions in the works, though I'm sure a road trip will occur spontaneously now and then.

We have been doing some biking, exploring the trails by pedal power.  Also doing some recon on foot of other potential paths before we hitch up and haul the bikes.

We're out for the leisure of it, the warm breeze through our hair (or helmet), the sights and scents.  Not so much for the sweat and burn and saddle soreness.

After the first ride, my knees were griping, and we hadn't even done any real hills.  Since then, icing them down afterwards has become the thing to.  Not as much fun as tossing back a cold brew, but cold refreshment of another sort.  You do what you have to do.

In the sewing room, there's been some puttering.  I started this month's circles for the Quilty 365 project, and they started to come together as a beautiful garden of colors.  June's theme, as I imagined it back in January, was "Floral or Light Multi."  A change from the one color per month idea, and although I wasn't as confident as I may have been when the plan was hatched, I went with it anyway.  

Well, it turned out just fine.  I delved into the scrap bins in search of flowers and there they were, like seeds ready to bloom.

Although we're only halfway through June, I've got the whole 30 days together in a kind of neat bouquet.

My "scraps of scraps" sitting on the side of the cutting table are finding their way into made-fabric.  Not sure what may become of them, but have no doubt something will, eventually.

Other putzing has involved de-boning some thrifted men's shirts for future projects, and altering and hemming a few clothing items for summer.  Among them was a brand new pair of Cabela's women's capris with the tags still on them that I found at Goodwill.  They were unflattering on me as capris, so I shortened them into shorts.

I do have a project in mind for a quilt to donate to a local group that hosts a hunting event for veterans in October.  They have door prizes or gifts, and I'd like to provide something for that.  I'm thinking a Hunter's Star block quilt, but I'm just beginning to hunt for ideas, colors, etc.

We kicked off the summer by celebrating Dad's birthday on Memorial Day with 35 or so family and friends.  Here we are, the siblings and Dad.  Always a good time!

I am also doing the 21-Day Daily Decluttering Challenge hosted by Courtney Carver at Be More With Less.  It's Day 6 today, so if you're of a mind to jump in, feel free.  It's been very gradual steps these first few days, which is good, but already I've got a big box of miscellaneous things ready to donate, as well as a laundry basket full of sheets and towels from the linen closet.  I feel lighter already.

Hope your summer is off to a great start.  Do you have any special plans?