Sunday Sundry 1-3-21

Here we are in a new year.  I like to imagine it stretching out before us like a winding path.  

What will we encounter along the way?  Will it be smooth or tricky to navigate?  Likely some of each.  

We can only see so far ahead, but it isn't always clear.

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do spend some time thinking about the past year, what I've learned and what I'm grateful for, and noting where I can do better.  

I am optimistic about 2021, and I know that it will bring more opportunities to practice presence, patience, creativity, kindness, resilience, and gratitude.

We were able to get together on Christmas with my daughter and her partner, Chris.  It was a very 2020 Christmas, and we took precautions, wearing masks and social distancing to the extent possible.  I put all three leaves in the dining room table, and the four of us sat at opposite ends during dinner.  

It was great to celebrate the holiday with them.  Even though they live less than an hour away, we hadn't seen each other in several months, when we'd been able to meet for outdoor dining in warmer weather.

Among other things, my husband surprised me on Christmas with a vintage paint-by-number for my collection.  It's really well done, and I love it!

I treated myself to some raspberry goodness.  I added these to my grocery pickup order a couple weeks ago. 

I love raspberry flavored tea and coffee, but since I drink a special low acid decaf coffee, I thought I'd give this flavoring a try.  It's perfect!  About four or five drops in a cup of coffee (or glass of iced tea) is all it takes. 

Yesterday we ventured out to a thrift store.  We've really been limiting trips to stores, and for me this was only the second time I'd been in a store since Thanksgiving.  But I wanted to find a couple t-shirts with at least 5% spandex that I could cut into strips for making the ear loops for masks.  I'd used up the versatile gray t-shirt I was cannibalizing for ear loops, and although I don't need to make any masks right now, I still get requests from friends or family from time to time, so wanted to have supplies on hand.

I found a gray and a black t-shirt, so that was mission accomplished.  I also found some nice fabric!  I was thrilled to discover this little cache of greens.  Less than $4 for over two yards' worth.  Not bad!

My husband directed my attention to a vintage Pfaff 130 sewing machine at the thrift store.  Oh, it was tempting!  I have more than enough machines in my stable already, but she was sure pretty.

(Hutch in kitchen decorated for the season)

Today feels like the holidays are well and truly over, although I've still got all the decorations up yet.  

(Orange almond cake with cranberry curd)

The rich foods have been eaten, what was left in the fridge and pantry.  

(Pecan snowballs)

I've got some organizing type projects on my mind, as well as sewing ideas.  I've joined The Joyful Quilter's Table Scraps Challenge. 

(Frosty trees outside my window today)

Before I go, I wanted to mention a documentary on Gordon Lightfoot that I watched on Amazon Prime a couple weeks ago.  I didn't know much about him personally until I saw it, but I remember his popular songs back in the 1970s.  I had the album Gord's Gold (greatest hits) that I played the heck out of back in my college days.  The music in this documentary took me right back to that time, and I really enjoyed learning more about the interesting career of a talented artist.  You might, too.

Progress and Thrift Finds

Work on the string basket blocks has continued, amounting to a total of 17 so far.  Here they all are on the design wall.

I may make a few more.  I have enough string basket bases cut for at least three more blocks (and there are a lot more shirt strings where those came from), but I'm running low on many of the solid scraps.  For each block, I used three different variations on that color scheme (three oranges, three pinks, etc.).  For the last aqua/blue block, though, I had to sub in a periwinkle solid.  It seems to have worked out.

I'm going to let the project sit for a bit, and we'll see where it goes eventually.  Still not sure if I'll end up setting them like this, or with some kind of sashing between, or turned completely differently.  To be determined...

Meanwhile, I cleaned up the string mess (you know how that can just take over a sewing space, right?), and I got back around to finishing up another quilt top.  Also made with thrifted shirts.

This was tricky to photograph in the house on this dreary winter day.  It's one of those quilts that's cozier feeling in real life and less—what's the word—discombobulated? 

I do like how it's turned out and am working on making the backing for it now.  That will also be from thrifted fabric, as it happens.  Not shirts, though. 

Speaking of that, we got out of the house yesterday (it's been a wild, wild winter lately; cabin fever is real, y'all).  We took a short drive to a neighboring town and hit the St. Vinny's there.

While I perused the fabric and craft section of the store, Norm wandered off and picked up a beautiful cougar!

She was super cheap (three bucks!), so of course we brought her home.  :)

She needs a little bath (the glass and frame), but with a tiny bit of TLC, she'll be good to go.  Or stay, as it were. 

I've got quite a collection of vintage paint-by-numbers, but it's still a thrill to find one, especially if it's well done, when we're out thrifting.  We've noticed we don't see them nearly as often as we used to.  I just checked eBay to see what the online market is like for these lately, and it looks like they have an identical cougar paint-by-number currently for $79.99.  Note to anyone who may have to clean out someone's attic, basement or garage:  Don't throw these in the dumpster thinking they're junk.  At least drive them to the thrift store where they can be joyfully found by the next PBN collector or nostalgic lover of kitsch!

Meanwhile, back in the fabric and crafts section, I had found a half yard of fabric and a nice hardcover quilt book from the mid-1990s.

Just look at these sweet quilts!

This Birds in the Air pattern really has a vintage vibe to it, doesn't it?  Love it.

And Sunflowers, yellow and blue is such a classic combination.

It's always a great day when you can go shopping with a ten dollar bill and come home with such fun finds and $4 in change!

Sunday Sundry 11-26-17

I finished this little table topper today.  The hand appliqued basket on blue background square was a pretty surprise sent to me by Audrey of Quilty Folk along with a giveaway I'd won several months ago.  She does such lovely work!  Thanks again, Audrey!

My addition to the piece was a scrappy gold piano key border on two sides. Sometimes you roll with what's in the scrap pile on the cutting table and hope it works.  I think it did!

To be honest, I felt a little guilty machine quilting the basket block.  But hand quilting is not my forte, and I wanted to finish this up and get to using it (on my bedside table), so I went with my instincts.

 * * * * *

November has been quite a month.  My dad has not been feeling well, and we've made three visits to the ER in the past four weeks, resulting in two extended hospitalizations.  

(November sunrise over the neighborhood)

As far as the doctors have determined, he developed pneumonia, triggered by an allergic reaction to one of the strong antibiotics he had been receiving for several weeks to treat a bone infection (in the ankle he fractured way back in January; it's been a long, drawn out healing process for that orthopedic injury).  

(Stone bridge over duck pond in the park)

So it's been up and down, to say the least.  The good news coming out of the ordeal is that his ankle seems to be finally healed.  Now to address the other issues that have arisen as a result of the pneumonia, with the goal of his further recovery and regaining of strength.

* * * * *

Somewhere in there, I finished the baby quilt for my niece's new baby boy.  

(Maverick's baby quilt)

(Baby quilt back)

I look forward to meeting the little guy for the first time on Sunday and giving him and his family this quilt!

* * * * * 

I also finished a quilt for the animal surgery.  This is yet another kennel quilt made from repurposed scrubs.

(Kennel quilt from repurposed scrubs)

I got to use up a lot of the Halloween themed scrubs that were in the pile.  The sweet Rottweiler I saw cuddled in it post-surgery (and after Halloween) didn't seem to mind all those witches!

* * * * *

We stopped at Goodwill for the first time in a few months, and lo and behold there was a vintage paint-by-number!  

They seem to be more elusive and harder to find these days, but it happened to be our lucky day.

Not your typical framed PBN painting, though.  It was painted on a large metal tray.  The first metal item in my collection.

And signed!  "Sis", whoever she was, did a great job!

Two and a Half and Some Change

In the past couple weeks, I finished two more kennel quilts, Nos. 14 and 15, and have No. 16 in the flimsy stage.  

(Kennel Quilts No. 15 and 14)

(No. 14)

(Back of No. 14)

(No. 16 flimsy)

In between those things, I also managed to baste a UFO that has been sitting around for quite a while, the Tea Towel Challenge 2014 quilt.

I attended to this task mainly because I had to open a brand new, king-sized package of batting but only needed a smallish piece for No. 15 kennel quilt.  Figured I may as well cut the batting for two things at once for economy's sake, rather than just chop a chunk out.

I think the fall colors may have had something to do with wanting to work on it, too, though.  As I spread out the backing (above) on the floor and taped it down, I fell in love with it all over again.  It's been out of sight and mind for nine months.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as the saying goes.  Hopefully, it won't take me that long to quilt it, but you never know.

No. 16 kennel quilt has an interesting backing too (below).  I was using the scraps of a butterfly print scrubs fabric to make HSTs and then assembled those flying geese style.  I had an odd number, though and needed one more to make the last set.  That is where the pile of scraps/trimmings came in handy.  I poked around and found just enough to create some "made" fabric for the last triangle.

Can you tell which is the "made" piece?  It's the one on the lower right.

I've had some fun thrifting recently, too.  I had a 25% off deal at Goodwill to use during the month August.  It slipped my mind until the very last day of the month, when I ventured in to see what treasures may be waiting.

How 'bout some mid-century California pottery?  Why yes, that will do, thank you.

Call them wings, paisleys, or a yin-yang dish.  Or be functionally descriptive and call them chip-and-dip trays or a lazy susan.  It's all good. Really good!

I was captivated by the color of this creamer.  Another mid-century era piece in the Rhythm pattern by Homer Laughlin. 

The code stamped on the bottom indicates this creamer was made in 1956.

A couple sweet books came home with me that day as well.

Last week, a friend of mine called to say he had found me a "Rembrandt" at a yard sale.  

Of course, he and I know that means a vintage paint-by-number, and that's a-okay with me!

What's in those baskets, do you think?  Flowers?  Bunches of radishes?  Berries or beets?  Maybe some things are meant to be a mystery!

Sunday Sundry 7-6-15

I know it's not Sunday anymore, but as I intended to post this yesterday as an installment of my irregular and random "Sundry" posts, I'm sticking with the theme.  Things like that happen when you procrastinate.  Sunday turns to Monday, the days to months, and so on.

It's amazing that we're smack dab in the middle of summer already.  I notice the stores are starting to get back-to-school stock on the shelves and that seems way too early.  But I'd be the worst retailer ever with my tendency to put things off.  Where are the spiral notebooks and pencil cases, you ask?  Oh, we'll have those out by Halloween.

Let's climb aboard the random roller coaster, shall we?

Dialing back a month or so ago, my chives were in blossom and around that time, I saw an interesting blog post about how to make chive blossom vinegar.  So I did.

HERE is the link to the instructions I followed, but basically I snipped a handful of blossoms, put them in a pint jar, and covered them with vinegar (I used rice wine vinegar, but I think any clear vinegar would work).  

Put a lid on it and set it aside for two weeks, then strain it, and voila—pretty pink chive blossom vinegar!  It has a mild onion-like flavor that goes well in oil and vinegar dressings, etc.

Some other recent snapshots of the flora and fauna around here include this pair of goldfinches having a breakfast of seeds from the spent purple-flowered spiky things in my garden, the name of which I don't recall.

And this little dragonfly resting on the hostas.

Last week, we took a mini-vacay to Galena, Illinois for a couple days.  It's an historic, once thriving old mining town whose downtown area has been nicely restored and features many shops, antique stores, boutiques, and restaurants.  It was also the home of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as a number of other generals and officers during the time of the Civil War.

We visited the local museum, which houses the famous 14-foot original oil painting entitled "Peace in the Union" by Thomas Nast, depicting the surrender of General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox.

A lot of interesting history, including that of the lead and zinc mining industries so vital to 19th century Galena.

The streets are steeply terraced from the river valley.  We learned that twice a day, at noon and after work in the evening, Grant would walk up these steps from his family's leather shop on Main Street to his house on the hill.  (We also learned that he stood 5'8" tall and weighed 135 pounds, and his wife wore a size 4 shoe, which was average in those days—wow, people were smaller then).

Later that day, I coaxed Norm into making the same trek.  We only went up the steps once, however, which was enough to make my leg muscles feel jittery for a while afterwards.

This view is somewhat deceiving, as we had already walked up one street level when I took this picture, and beyond the end of the steps you can see, there were another couple dozen we climbed to the next street level as well.  I counted 245 steps on the way down, give or take a few.

We drove up to Chestnut Mountain Resort a few miles outside Galena for a view of the Mississippi River.  

On the way back to town, Norm spotted these barn quilts, so I pulled in for a closer view.

As I was walking back to the car, I noticed these huge thistle blossoms, the largest almost the size of a tennis ball!  

Beyond the thistles, a few sheep grazed lazily along a stony creek bed.  Such a lovely bucolic scene.

Back home, I've started another kennel quilt.  I'm making big half-square triangles for this one, which will end up probably 42 x 70 inches, the largest one so far.

Did a little thrift store shopping this weekend, where I found a vintage paint-by-number to add to the collection.  A dollar ninety-nine, what a deal.

I took it out of the frame to clean the glass, where I noted the toy company and name and number of the panel.  This one probably dates to the late 1950s and is in really good shape.  The somewhat shaky execution of the paint job is all part of the charm!

Now it's back to a normal work week for us.   How's your summer going so far?