The Year of the Pillowcase

Sewing Epiphany

Yup! I had one of those a couple of days ago -- an absolute insight!

It all started a couple of months ago when I got my sewing machine serviced. Just about the time I was ready to pay and leave, the repair guy fixed me with an accusatory glare and asked, "You aren't using one of those plastic tables with fold-down legs for your sewing table, are you?" Well, yes, I was. Or, more to the point, Yeah! It's a nice big work surface and is a lot more stable than my card table or a t.v. tray. "Get a sturdier table," he advised me. "Otherwise, the vibration on the table will knock your machine out of adjustment in no time at all."

That is all well and good, but where did I have a sturdy table floating around that would be the right height? The sewing cabinet with fold-out leaves I had purchased several years ago has a support bar across the bottom that does not allow my task chair to get close enough to the table surface. It does not take me long to develop severe back pain when I sit leaning forward at a 45 degree angle while sewing. That cabinet was quickly converted into a storage cabinet for my fat quarters and U.F.Os (unfinished fabric objects). My office desk was not available.

I decided a handcrafted computer desk we acquired would work. Very sturdy, a large work area, and some shelving for supplies and -- more U.F.Os. It took a major reorganizing my sewing area, but Buck and I got it in place.

There I have it, my sewing area, complete with obligatory sleeping cat and everything covered to keep the fur and dander off current projects so the area only needs a minor clean, not a major clean, anytime I want to sew. The only problem is that shelf hits me in the knees when the rest of me is about six inches away from the table. Buck is going to cut four inches out the shelf on the right, but until that happens, I find myself still leaning forward while I sew.

Where is the epiphany? I realized, after hours of pain from rolling my back that one of the reasons I could not sit up straight while stitching was not because I could not get my body close enough to the table. I could not see.

I have bifocals, but could use trifocals. I prefer to use an old pair of readers for my middle "focal". I need to lean forward to get my face mere inches above the presser foot for a clear view out of the close-up part of the lens. On the other hand, if I sit up straight, I cannot not see the detail clearly with the distant part of the lens.

I shoved my bifocals on top of my head, put on the old readers I usually use for computer work, and -- instant-presto! Problem solved.

Shoulda Been September

Has it really been since July that I have posted an entry?  This news should have been in September. I told Buck at the start of the year that with all his purchases he makes, in 2011 I expect to get a new toilet for our master bath. Very indignantly, he told me that it was not as simple as that. If we get a new toilet, we also have to get the rest of the stuff to lay down a new tile floor because he is not going to set a toilet twice if he can help it. Fine with me. Here is a shot of the new toilet and floor.

We got a Jacuzzi brand that is about 2.5 inches higher than a normal toilet. Buck thought that with his weak knees, it might be easier on him as time goes on. At first when I used that toilet, I felt like I was a little girl sitting on her grandpa's potty. But, I am adapting.

I do love the look. How can I get so excited about a new toilet? There is a reason there is no "before" picture. The floor, those horrible vinyl tiles that pull apart at the seams on a wood floor, were trash. The toilet was probably about the same age as the house, circa. 1945. It was impossible to clean, even with a pumice stone.

Archie likes the new toilet, too. Air-cooled in the summer -- the soothing sound of rushing water. He claimed it right off, which means that we have to fight him to use it or give up and use the hall bath. He let us use it for a little while. Now that it is cold enough that we have fired up the wood stove, the front room is too hot for him. So, back to the toilet -- air cooled.


At least Tonka does not switch his favorite sleeping place all that often. He tends to stick to the high ground -- the top of Buck's recliner.

I Remember Why I Don't Love All Tupperware

Tupperware is a great product. I even sold it for awhile until I figured out that (1) I did not really make any money doing so, and (2) I did not like changes the company made to their marketing program about the time the national economy went downhill. While I was a consultant, I used my discount to purchase a lot of pieces I wanted for myself. But, now I remember why I do not love all Tupperware.

Take, for instance the refrigerator produce keepers. Yes, you can set the amount of humidity to preserve your produce, and things do keep a long time in them. Notice the onion I picked and put in there about two months ago. The bulb end is still edible although the green stems are beyond anything I would want in a green salad. Although the orange did not fare so well after two months, I know it was, after all, old and almost gone when I put it in there two months ago.

So, why am I just now getting to these after two months? Because I am a visual person when it comes to my refrigerator. If I cannot see it clearly, it does not exist or me. And, instead of keeping their products clear and see-throughable (Okay, I know that is not a real word.), Tupperware is always changing its color schemes. I guess they figure that if someone loves this year's color scheme better than last year's, they will throw out that piece they paid a small fortune for a year ago and buy a new one in the latest color.

Not me. Back to using the plastic bags from the grocery store produce department. Once I realize I have food spoiling because I do not see it, I vow to never spend money on Tupperware again and I start using the Tupperware I have for other things where I do not need to see what is in the box.

That is my sentiment. But, I am going to give it one last college try. I was able to shuffle things so that I could get about half of the peaches I was gifted with a few days ago into one of the keepers. A few more -- not as many because even though this keeper is longer, it is shallower (the blue one that is long enough or celery). Both -- together or individually -- take up an inordinate amount of space on my refrigerator shelves. And, the only way I will remember the peaches are there, since I cannot see them through the color, is to make appointments on my smartphone calendar every 2-3 days to remind me that I have fresh peaches in the frig .

What I really need to do is make a peach cobbler. Also, I should get some of that stuff that keeps fruit from turning brown and then prepare the peaches for the freezer. I could use my freezer containers by Tupperware.

Now, those I like. Even if I forget to label them I can pretty much see what is in them.

Double Challenge

With everything going on last week, it was a double challenge to work on my two challenges for the week.

First, there was the tail-end of the weed-out-the-garden-boxes challenge.  I intended to do it Monday, then Tuesday morning, but finally got it finished on Friday.

Now I can start all over with the first box and try to get the weeds before they are two feet high again!


I also started working on the hanging quilt I am making out of the Challenge Fabric I received at the Gateway Quilter's Guild January meeting.  The yard I received was the large leaf pattern of pink, lavender and aqua green on the black background.  Since these are not the usual colors with which I work, I spent a couple of months and trips to several fabric stores looking for coordinating colors and patterns.  If I want to finish this project by the quilt show the first weekend in October, I decided I need to get busy on it.

I used the gold metallic thread in a leaf design around the black border of the center square to bring out the gold outlining on the leaves.  I really focused on getting my points clean.

Oh, Garden --What a Mess!

A long, wet spring and a week of temperatures with highs from 101-105 degrees, and the garden got definitely out of control. These pictures were taken Thursday, July14th:

Buck built a compost box for me.  By Thursday afternoon it was full.

Part of our problems started when the irrigation water from our neighbor's land (elevation about a foot higher than our lot) broke through a gopher hole and started flooding our yard every time he irrigated.  It covered my black felt weed control between the grow boxes with about an inch of dirt which immediately sprouted weeds.  It also undermined our pump house next to the faucet.  So, Buck pulled up the felt and filled in under the pump house.  He also built berms to channel the water between the grow boxes and out to the lawn so that it would not undermine the concrete floors of the pump house or the shop.

In addition to the bermuda and crab grass getting out of control, I used some "straw" I was gifted for mulch to keep the weeds down.  Instead, I ended up with some nice stands of oats.  The good new was that because I set it on top of the soil, the roots were shallow and pulled up easily.  It was a different story with the other.....

The store-bought squash did not make it -- none of the four plants.  I got enough zucchini out of the garden to give two away and make a double batch of zucchini bread.  The volunteer second-generation "pumpkini" plants, however, is hale and hearty, and may make it if the bugs do not kill them.

As I cleaned out a grow box, Buck replaced the rotting and splitting three year-old stakes holding the sides up with two foot sections of the fiberglass poles he sells as portable ham antenna towers and garden stakes.

Buck was not my only company in the garden that day.  One was a pollinator, one was a plant chomper.

Only one grow box left to weed.  Then the weeds in the first box will probably have grown back and it will be time to start again!

Primarily Blue

I'm through with you, Primarily Blue.

I like how it turned out.  I like how the colors balanced out.  I like the block design, as well as the corner and mid-way sashing blocks.  However, the overall craftsmanship is less than excellent. 

Maybe I can't have everything?????



I designed the stencil I used on the blocks.  The jury is still out as far as my Singer being a top-notch quilting machine, although I realize a lot of the problem is with the machine operator.  In fact, it is the machine quilting part of the project that moved my quilt from excellent to so-so.





This is the backing.  I ended up putting some flowers and hearts from one of my fabrics used on front to cover some rough spots where the thread bunched up.  I like the design of this fabric when it is not giving me an eye-strain headache.