Last Week's Projects

Yippee! I finished binding my black-and-white quilt with bias-cut striped fabric. It also looked very cool on the back side:
My dishcloths were in shreds, so I found all my cotton yarn. I looked up a website here to get a few cute patterns. Here you see the Pear Cloth:

I made a plain one out of a partial ball of green variegated, and last night I began a basketweave in yellow (while watching the movie Rebecca:

We are so excited here because *both* Forget-me-not and Lily are expecting babies in March! So I dragged out seven pieces of flannel that I had bought at a $1.99 sale at Jo-Ann's. I cut them to size and hemmed them up Sunday afternoon:

Saturday we traveled to Charming's mother's home for a party to welcome our nephew and his best friend home from Iraq. What a special time, rejoicing that the Lord has brought them home safely.

Swimming was the order of the day for the Cousins (Alvin Fernald in the middle, Blackeyed Susan along the side in the ponytail, Don Quixote beside her):

I preferred sitting in the swing, listening to the guys. I usually try to be in the vicinity when Music Breaks Out (Charming in the plaid shirt):

A very full day of sun and food. No talking on the two-hour trip home--snoozing was the order of the night . We absolutely dragged ourselves out of bed for church--the reason I try not to have a Big Night on Saturdays. But absolutely worth the trip--Charming saw brother and sister friends from his growing-up years he hadn't seen in twenty-five years or more. Family is the coolest!

A Faithful Friend and True

Alvin Fernald had taken care of a guinea pig that belonged to a missionary family while they were overseas for six months. We returned Gracie to her family last Saturday. Unfortunately, Gracie stopped eating, and passed away last evening. Corduroy (shown above) came out of semi-retirement to comfort Alvin.

I looked up this information here:

"Usually, the first signs of illness in your guinea pig will be a loss of appetite and lethargy. Although not all illnesses affect the guinea pig in the same way, if you see your cavy huddled in the corner of the hutch, refusing to eat or drink, it is almost always indicative of a serious affliction. Being herbivores, guinea pigs eat almost constantly, and metabolize food very quickly. If, for any reason, they stop eating, it should be considered a very serious condition, as the guinea pig could die in a matter of hours. Some illnesses can also cause diarrhea, which is even more serious. Diarrhea can dehydrate a guinea pig very quickly, which can also cause death if not treated right away."

Rest in peace, Gracie.

You Know You Need a Haircut When...

Parentheses have Landed on your Forehead.

Everybody Clap for Barbie

I got my mammogram today. This finishes my yearly exam/bloodwork/pap/mammy thing. Only I missed a couple three years. [WHERE does the time go?]

Okay, so you can say "shame on you" before you clap.

Have you done your yearly thing yet?

Wednesday update:
I received a letter today: "We are glad to inform you that your recent mammogram is Normal." Happy day!

Show and Tell Friday

Forget-me-not put together this patriotic puzzle that Charming brought home from Cracker Barrel. I am going to use it for the rest of the summer as a "placemat" in a centerpiece for my cluster-of-flags-in-a-jar and candles:
I really must brag on my two puzzle-experts, Johnny Tremain and Forget-me-not. They had the same second-grade teacher at a small Christian school. Charlotte had been a missionary in China for eight years, and so she was Not At All Traditional when it came to teaching second-graders. When the children finished their seatwork, they were able to go to a station where a 1000-piece puzzle was always "in process." No one told her that seven-year-olds are not capable of doing 1000-piece puzzles, and no one told the second-graders, either. Now when we are doing one at home, it is like second-nature to these two. Forget-me-not is *so* good that once the puzzle is about half-done, she looks at the shape of the space and then looks over the pile of pieces and chooses one. She hardly ever, ever is wrong on the first try. Johnny Tremain is the Speed Person of the team.

I'm not sure when this week that Alvin Fernald took some scary photos of himself, but I found them today. The scary part (to me) is not the face he makes, or whatever he had eaten, but look at the size of those TONSILS. I'll have to investigate this further: So fun for me: Finally getting to the quilting on a gift-quilt, and look at that Fuh-Hab-U-Lous backing fabric with lush roses:

Thanks to Canada Girl for hosting Show and Tell Friday.

Validation--Yes, I *Am* Cool!

I

Rock!!

Check out my other blog to see that I've been awarded the Rockin' Girl Blogger award!

(I can hold this over my kids' heads forever.)

Finished Project

I finally finished my five-bag project from LAST summer. Here is the bag I made for Violet: Inside, she has lots of pockets to use:

The bags I made for my sister and my daughters (and -in-law) all turned out bigger than they looked on the pattern. Lily and Forget-me-not use hers for diaper bags, Blackeyed Susan for going to concerts (holds water bottle, camera, and Everything Else) and my sister used hers for a trip, like a carry-on! She told me it just matched a blazer she had bought, so that was fun.

Violet lives 100 miles away now, and she asked me for my copy of last year's phone book, which I have stuck inside her bag, and there is still plenty of room to put things for a weekend away...

These bags were so fun, putting three or four funky fabrics together for fun details. And, it is nice to have Finished Something.

Last evening I basted a quilt, part of my Two-year, Five Quilt project. Here's how it stands:

--Five quilt tops finished

--Four basted

--One quilted

All since January 1st!

I also finished a yo-yo project this week, which still has to be kept "under wraps" because it is a gift. Next on the list--a laundry basket full of fabrics and apron patterns. I just can't get a handle on Where to Begin that project...

Later today, I am taking off to retrieve my two youngest offspring, who have spent the last nine days on vacation with their grandparents. The week has been fun and relaxing without them, but life is always better (for me) at home than anywhere else, so I am looking forward to having them back!

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

"Aunt Docia's dress was a sprigged print, dark blue, with sprigs of red flowers and green leaves thick upon it. The basque was buttoned down the front with black buttons which looked so exactly like juicy big blackberries that Laura wanted to taste them."

--Little House in the Big Woods, pp. 142-3

Whenever I read that passage, I think about two very special buttons in my mother's button box. They were a winey-plum color and they were shaped like raspberries. They were my favorites, and I had visions of owning them when I got older.

Mother's button box was one of those round fruitcake tins. Most of the buttons were ordinary, ripped off of a garment that was being sent to the rag drawer. Others were more fun; I remember a couple of rhinestone buttons, and a number of more colorful ones as well. There were only one or two of many of them--others had four or five.

I firmly believe that every woman should have a button box. They are a wonderful rainy-day plaything for children (over three years old, of course!)--I spent many hours just running my hands through the pile, over and over. Very therapeutic, I think!

When we had to break up housekeeping for my parents five years ago, I was delighted to find the button tin in the closet! But, lo and behold, when I opened it, it had a few packages of bias tape and that cheap lace stuff that is supposed to be used in hems. Not a button appeared at all in the entire house! I asked Mom about them, and she couldn't recall when or what might have happened to them--and my two raspberry buttons.

Sigh. But I transferred my own button collection to my Mother's tin, and now my grandchildren are enjoying playing with it.

I recently went thrifting, and found a few cards of vintage buttons for just a quarter apiece:
Nothing shaped like raspberries, mind you, but fun! Besides the button box, I keep a green Mason jar filled with white buttons--I like the look, sitting in my sewing room on a shelf.

My find-of-the-week was a number of Grandmother's flower garden blocks, some without the outside row of squares:

Forget-me-not is making a Grandmother's Flower Garden, but hers will have more of a 1960's feel than the 30's feel of these squares. Sometimes I think it is sad that these squares sell rather cheaply--the large ones were $2, the smaller $1.50--but then, you can never get enough money for the work that is put into a handmade quilt. And, even though the owner's (descendants?) sold the squares because they had no use for them, we get to enjoy them!

Is there anything special in *your* button box? Why don't you pull it out the next rainy day?