8 Days and Counting

One week from tomorrow the moving van shows up and starts carrying out furniture and boxes.  One. Short. Week.

I am so not ready, and yet readier than I'll ever be, to move.  Ugh!  Moving... it's awful and wonderful at the same time.  I cannot wait to move into a condo again.  No more moaning about having to shovel the snow.  DH, not me!  Never me!

Of course this year there hasn't been a lot of snow, so go figure.

Random happenings in 2018 that I did for the last time, or for the last time here in this house:

 Daughter's wedding box, craft project with granddaughter Miss A

 Getting "the eye" from Miss Kitty

 Painting and cleaning the rental unit...

 Getting new patio doors installed

 Last meal around the old table, now we eat around the new one.

 Snowman coffee!  The snow melted the next day...

 Baking Christmas cookies!  They were delicious.

 DH finally bought a new recliner.  He did a good job.  It even has a USB port for charging your phone while you lounge.

Pea Soup, with the after Thanksgiving ham.  I figured no one but me would be eating it so I used California Blend veggies instead of just plain carrots.

Boxes upon boxes are filling my rooms.  I don't know how much you can pack in a day, but I have my limits.  I was teasing DH that anything not packed could stay for the next occupant.  He hasn't packed anything of his yet, so we'll see how that goes!

Time for dinner.  I'm ordering pizza.

Pack on...

Knitting Lessons

I love to knit.  I love blogs about knitting, especially Stephanie Pearl McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot.  She's written tons of great blog posts and about a dozen books about knitting that are easy reads and will make you alternately laugh and cry, sometimes within seconds of each other.

One of the gifts I ordered for myself this Christmas (story for another blog post...) was SP-M Casts Off.  It arrived today, and I cannot wait to open it.  It's not a new book.  Published in 2007, it's a travelogue through the land of knitting.  But it's new to me and I'm really looking forward to a good long late night, not ready for sleep read.

 
A friend from our quilt guild admired the socks I knit and I offered to show her the ropes if she wanted to stop over some day.  She's been sitting in a lot of waiting rooms waiting for her DH to finish up with OT and PT in recent days, which is perfect knitting time.  i.e. nobody makes eye contact, usually people are anxious so they're not really chatting, and no one stays long enough to distract the knitting person!

I do not profess to be an expert, but I did take that knitting workshop last summer and I have actually finished five complete two-sock pairs of socks!

She came today for the second lesson, turning the heel.  Her socks are striped in multicolored yarn with a gray stripe between, and they're going to be so cute.  She started off with four double pointed needles and ended up with the nine inch circular needle, the one that gave me such fits I pulled it out and threw it on the table.  I could not manage it.  I gave it to her when she left.

 I wish I had taken a picture of her sock.  She's doing so well on it I feel like I've hatched an egg or something and I'm watching my chick start to walk around!  Silly, I know.

But I feel like telling Stephanie McPhee thanks.  Thanks for inspiration, for making knitting so sexy popular and for allowing me to see that even she makes mistakes but always gets back on the needles.

You should read some of her stuff.  Really.

Knit on...

Blue Chair, Reprise

A few months ago I wrote the saga of the blue chair... DH has had a blue reclining chair for about 12 years and it needed replacing.  Of course that was only MY opinion, not HIS!

He bought that chair from the Lazy Boy gallery because it was supposed to be so much sturdier than the previous blue chair, which had come from just an ordinary furniture store.

He is not a large man, average height and average to low on the weight scale... so one would think he would walk and sit like any average person.  However, he stomps when he walks and when he sits down, furniture groans.  I don't know what it is about sitting down, but he throws himself back into his chair like a person who weighs three times as much as he does!

Therefore, the chairs do not last.  Two generations of blue chairs ago, we had identical recliners.  His broke down, probably within five or six years of the purchase; both the seat springs and the lever to open it went south in a big hurry.  My chair was still in great condition.  We got rid of his and he took over mine, and I moved myself to sitting on the sofa.

This last blue chair lasted longer but gosh, don't you think a chair would last longer than 10 years, especially an expensive chair??  I say 10 years because that's when he started needing a pillow on the seat to cushion his tush.

And don't tell me about LB guarantees because you have to keep the receipts, which he didn't.  So I wanted to get him a new chair.

The first conversation two years ago went:

Me:  You need a new chair.
Him:  Nope, I don't.  My chair is fine.
Me:  If you have to sit on a pillow, it's not fine.
Him:  It's fine.

Second conversation, last May:

Him:  What do you want for your birthday?
Me:  For you to get a new chair.
Him:  My chair is fine.

Me:  If you have to sit on a pillow, it's not fine.

Him:  It's fine.

Recent conversation:

Him:  What do you want for Christmas?

Me:  For you to get a new chair.

Him:  My chair is fine.

Me:  If you have to sit on a pillow, it's not fine.

Him:  It's fine.

Then last Monday he said "How'd you like to go help me pick out a chair today?"

Stunned silence.  Finally I said "Nope, you just go and pick out whatever you want."  He said "How will I know you'll like it?"  I said "Text me a picture."

That required teaching him how to attach a photo to a text message.  We got through that without threat of divorce.

He left the house for the furniture store.  About half an hour later, he texted me this photo:

Ohhhhh kaaayyyyy…. I THINK that's a chair.  I texted back 'what color'.  Response:  'cocoa'.  Sure.

He's sitting in it now.  It's actually a very nice chair.  At least it isn't blue.

Sew on...

First Wednesday in December! Advent Begins

Today is the first week of Advent.  Our church has two services every Wednesday for the next three weeks.  One is at 11 a.m. followed by a soup luncheon, the other is at 6:30, preceded by a light supper.

I personally cannot believe that Christmas is that close.  Although I am patting myself on the back a bit since I have nearly all my shopping done.  The grands will get so much from all of their various Christmas visits that I hesitate to buy them a lot, especially since they're tweens and teens and I am not exactly 'hip' to what's up with them these days.  Getting to be an old fogey, I guess.  LOL!

I have been knitting and sewing things, knowing that those kinds of things will probably not be coming from elsewhere.  I'm working on the last few items and will finish before the day (or else??).

Today I am waiting for MY Christmas gift to be delivered.  We (should I say I?) ordered a cabinet for my collection of Depression Glass and china.  I've been wanting to have one since we moved in here almost 12 years ago.  Now that we're moving, I'm finally getting one.

We're still cleaning and packing.  I can't pack TOO much, there's still living to be done here.. but I'm packing up books and closet contents that are not being used, and creating big piles of things for the various charity shops in the area.  And DH has the number for Got Junk memorized  :-)

Next task, baking.  I don't need all those goodies myself, but the kids do like their Christmas cookies.

So who can resist a Rudolf cookie?

I'm not sure why we feel the need to do all this extra stuff.  Love for family, I guess.  I don't remember my mom ever baking Christmas cookies.  Maybe she did, but not while I was at home.  I'll have to check with my younger siblings.

We decided not to put up all the holiday decorations, since very shortly after Christmas we'll be packing up to move.  I do want to put some things around, just to remind myself that it's the festive season.  Mr. Grinch says we should have Christmas Eve at one of the kids' houses, since they will both have their places decorated.  But the church service is close to our house, so we'll just wear red and green and be our own 'tree'!

Maybe I should print a photo

extra big and tape it to the wall?

The store has the twelve days of Christmas Gifts going on right now.  Lots of wonderful gift type items are being made available.  That means lots of packaging and wrapping but the owner did most of it.  We just have to take orders and assemble them for distribution.  I ordered a lovely wool pressing mat and a cute refillable spray bottle for my starch alternative product.  there are more things to come too.  Check the Facebook page of Quiltagious if you're interested.

Yesterday my job was to sew a small soft book for a shop sample.  It turned out to be adorable!  We have two, one is Noah's Ark and the other one is a dinosaur panel.  I think the Noah's Ark would be so cute for a quiet toy for church for some small child.

I'm also, little by little, catching up on my Kaffe Mystery Quilt blocks.  I am in possession of nine packets, and I have SIX done!  I have three packets of snowball blocks left to do.  I'm happy to be finished with the group of 20 checkerboard blocks that were sent.

twenty of these are ready for pressing!

Making checkerboard blocks from two inch strips teaches you the value of accurate cutting and seam allowance.  The first batch I did had to be undone and scooted over.  But now that I've done multiple packets I'm pretty sure where to line them up.  I can get within a tiny fraction of the precise final measurement.

I think I hear a delivery truck!  Either that or the garbage is being picked up...  more later!

Sew on...

Too Busy To Blog???

Oh. My. Goodness.  When I looked at when I blogged last I was astounded!  October 25?  As Rita Farro would say, seriously people??  LOL!

Since that last post I have done a LOT of cleaning in my resource room, cleaned out and sorted every closet in my house, bought a new dining room set (more on that later) and provided two title companies with a ton of paperwork for two closings.  Luckily those closings are now OVER and DONE!  As of a week ago I am a renter in the house we're currently living in.  As of today I officially own a condo that someone else lives in!  I. Love. It.  😂

Moving will be some time in January, TBD.  Our 'tenant' is building so it all depends upon his occupancy permit.

I successfully reduced my paper garment pattern stash by 50%.  I had stored them in pattern boxes, and I think they hold about 20-25 patterns each, depending upon how fat the envelopes are.  I'm down to five boxes.  This includes all of the purse and bag patterns that came in paper envelopes.  The decision was a good one; I only kept the ones I loved and/or had made before successfully.  The rest have gone to a thrift shop.

Then next big project was gift wrap/boxes.  The kids know that we do not toss the boxes on holidays, just get rid of the wrapping paper and the ribbons.  Not that those matter, because over the years I've purchased wrapping paper of all sorts from all sources, like schoolkids selling to support some school project, and I've stocked up on the after Christmas sales.  I also save those gift bags, and the tissue.

Last time the church quilt guild met we pulled out the anniversary quilt to air and refold and we repressed the acid-free tissue we use to store it in its acid-free box.  Someone said "you press tissue paper?"  Yes, several of us do... and especially when it's acid-free and kind of expensive to replace.

So now I have a veritable rainbow of tissue paper, both plain and fancy, all sorted and stored in ONE place this time instead of willy nilly on closet shelves!

In my defense, I did toss the torn stuff, and the wrapping paper scraps that I was going to use to wrap that one small package that only takes an 8 inch square...

I donated three large bins of perfectly good garment fabric to a charity shop that supports three local Lutheran schools.  I hope someone loves the pieces as much as I must have when I bought them!  I think I can probably come up with a couple of additional bins if I try.

My dining room table has been replaced by a lovely medium brown table that is the right height, not two inches too high for my elbows.  AND I only paid $35 for it at the Salvation Army store!  Such a deal!  It cleaned up nicely and I love it.  We ordered some chairs from Wayfair.  we spent an evening putting them together, and the marriage survived, although it was a near thing when DH said he didn't like them.  After being told that they would be returned and HE could shop for chairs, he changed his mind.  Duh.

The old table had the most gigantic legs, and a thick, beveled top.  See how high the chairbacks are?  You could not get near the table unless you went between them, at least I couldn't, so to set anything down on the table I had to be either at the corner or between chairs.

The new table is darker brown, and the top is Formica, unlike the wood top on the old one.  No one ever remembered to use a coaster, and I was constantly harping about white rings from the moisture!

I love these chairs, they don't hit at a bad spot on my thigh like the old ones did, and since they're several inches lower at the back, my kitchen suddenly looks like a ballroom!

So when all is said and done, I'll be loving my new dining room!  The quest is on now to get a china cabinet that at least coordinates.  I hope to be able to display my collection of amber colored depression glass in the new place.

One week to Thanksgiving, and I need to start planning the dinner.  I expect we'll have somewhere around 9 for dinner and football.  I have Friday off from the shop, then Saturday I'll be working on Small Business Saturday.  Please get out there an support the locally owned shops so they stay in business and can continue to give everyone the excellent customer service that is so absent in the big box chain stores!

Back to cleaning/packing... LOL!!

Sew on...

555!

This is post number 555.   I probably would have written more posts, but since I retired from my full time day job and started working in the quilt shop eight whole hours a week I haven't had a moment to myself!

I like things in threes... three flowers in a vase look so much more pleasing than one or two.  Three skeins of yarn in a basket on my coffee table.  Three cookies - just enough, not too many!  Three coins in a fountain (sounds like a song), the trinity of onion, celery and carrot in many of my favorite dishes.  The Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  You get it.

I used to buy fabric three yards at a time when I did more garment sewing.  If fabric is 44 inches wide you can get a blouse with any sleeve style out of three yards.   If it's 60 inches wide you can make a short sleeved top and an overblouse from three yards.  In quilting, if I love it I buy three yards and I can usually get a quilt back, or any style patchwork plus some leftovers, from three yards.

And three fives are so nice.  I'm not sure why, five is not my favorite number, but oh well.  So on to actual post 555.

I was in the quilt shop on Tuesday when the owner's brother came in.  They were having a family sewing day in the classroom.  He's the guy who designed the Escher quilt that's been all over Facebook.  I had just finished my Escher and had gotten it back from the quilter.

He said to me "you sure do knit a lot of socks!"  I've been posting my knitting on Facebook and he's a Friend.

I said "yes, I have!  They're fast and easy and I love doing them.  I knit when my husband is watching bad TV, and I don't necessarily want to pay attention but he wants me to be in the room with him."

Chris said "Bad TV??"

Ha ha… like there is no bad TV?  90% of the stuff that's on is pure dreck.  And I'm dying over all the political ads.  No one tells the truth about anything and I'm so sick of politicians trying to win not by proving that they're so good at what they do but by trying to show how bad their opponents are.  Ugh.

I record certain shows that I do like, then I play them back later and fast forward through all the commercials.  Like Jeopardy.  I love watching Jeopardy.  My daughter once called it smart people's TV.  I started watching when Art Fleming was the host and the lowest dollar prize was $10.  And that was real money back then!

Advertising has gotten out of control.  If you buy a tablet or a computer these days you have to pay extra to get one that doesn't put advertising on every screen and in every page you visit.  I have a couple of bloggers that I like to read who have ads on their blogs.  It's SOOOO annoying when you have to click off the ads before you can see a decent amount of post text.  I personally would never, ever click on those ads to buy anything even if I wanted it!

I can see if you're going to Etsy or Craftsy or eBay and you have to deal with ads, those are stores and they're in business to sell stuff.  Also, when you go there you are aware of the fact that you're going to see ads.  But jeez people, if you're just a blog, then be a blog!  Leave the ads off, please!

OK, off the soap box.

Meanwhile, the knitting.  I blogged before about the sock class I took at Cream City Yarn.  It wasn't a 'learn this pattern and knit this sock' kind of class, the teacher called it a toolbox.  She went through all the parts of knitting a sock, the various ways to do it, what each is best used for, and how to mix and match.  It was the best knitting class I've ever taken on socks.  And now I can't stop doing them!

These are done and in my sock drawer!

This one is done and the second is past the heel.

One sock done, the other to be cast on.  

These are recent acquisitions.  Some from Cream

City, some from internet sources.  Gorgeous!

This one is named Witch's Brew.  It's sock yarn, but I'm 

knitting a scarf... love the purple flecks.

And I'm doing it while watching GOOD TV.

This yarn is so gorgeous, but I made an error

when I ordered it, I didn't read the description

well enough.  I need two balls to make a pair

of socks.  It's OK.  I ordered some more.

Rock on people!

If Wishes Were Horses...

When I was younger, any time I would wish for something out loud, my mother would say "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride".  That was kind of annoying, firstly because as a small child I wasn't sure what it meant.  Then later when I understood, I realized she was telling me that if you wanted something bad enough there probably was work involved!

Later she would say "Be careful what you wish for because you might get it".  OK.... and that would be bad because??  LOL!  Leave it to Mom to hand out pithy lessons that you had to work to understand!

I've been wishing for a nice condo somewhere close to things I need to get to but within traveling distance of both of my children's' families, in case we need to do kid pickup or have them over for dinners.  I found the idea of moving both daunting and exciting.  The whole idea of new stuff is great, but the cleaning and sorting and packing, oh my aching back!

Just when I thought there was no truth to the rumors about the hot real estate market, we sold our townhouse.  In one day, on the first day of showings, and for a good price!  Then the panic hit -- OK potentially homeless here!!  Ah, no, on the second day of looking we found a place we liked, within our budget, with no fixups needed...

Now I'm just waiting for appraisers and banks and real estate title companies to do their thing (or things, as the case may be).

Meanwhile, on Friday of last week I had a BIG hole in my house!

It was 42 degrees outside, and that was the day that the installation of my patio doors was to happen.  They were efficient and fast as they could be but it still took about three hours for the old doors to come out, things to get squared up, and the new doors to be installed.

There were three guys to install two complete doors, one in either unit.  The older guys were dressed warmly but bare-headed, and with no gloves.  The younger guy looked like he was trying not to expose ANY bare skin to the elements, complete with hat, hoodie and gloves.

Go figure!

The new doors slide like butter, they lock without the use of a bar in the track, and the glass is clear and the handles all work.  I could not be more pleased.  They're Anderson doors and we bought them at Home Depot.  Yay!!  I'm just sorry we're moving so we won't be able to enjoy them all that long!

Meanwhile, during my sewing hours I'm working on a kit called Jewel Frames.  The pattern is a free download from the internet, but the fabric was purchased as a kit (printed copy of the pattern included.)  It's all Kaffe fabric in shades of my favorite colors.  I can say that because I cut up these kits while I was working at the shop, so I picked them out!  ;-)

This is the pattern... you can google it if you want to see the details.  Yes, I know the fabric selection in the kit is not exactly the same as the pattern fabric list, but this is an older pattern.  Some of the fabrics are just not available, or we were out of them.

The first round is a black background fabric called Roman Glass, in the color Jewel.  One of my fav's.

The next round will be Millefiori in green, another favorite.

Here are my blocks, first round half done.

Between cleaning closets and sorting bookshelves, I'm still working on socks.  I was VERY happy to have some to keep my feet warm on Friday!  The downstairs temperature was 42, even with the heat on, but up on the second floor it was 80 because the furnace kept running and running, trying to thaw the main floor.  Ha!  Didn't work until they finished the doors...

Go figure!

The only things that kept me warm that day were a cat on the lap, new sneaks and a nice pair on hand knitted socks!

 Not necessarily all at the same time...

Hey, winter's coming, stay warm people!

Rock on...