Goodbye April 2019

Working on quilt labels

I worked in the sewing room this morning. First I had to get it straightened back up. I had discombobulated everything in an effort to dust and vacuum and get rid of some of the stash of fabric jibbles, threads, pet hair, dust balls, etc.,, that had piled up over the last few months. I also, to my chagrin, found a couples of plastic baskets that someone had used for pee pots. I don’t know if it was Taco during the time he was having his problem (eschewing the litter box), or if it was that famous pee-pee-anyplace-I-please mutt Mr. Skipper Lou Blue. Anyway, I threw out the baskets as well as their contents. Thank goodness, they didn’t contain much and nothing of importance.

After I got everything pretty much squared away and was able to get to stuff again, i did some work on quilt labels for my quilt show entries. It’s only about six weeks until the show, and I still have three quilts to bind, sleeves to sew on five quilts, labels to create and  attach to all six, and pillowcases to label. The way we turn our quilts in for the show is to place each one in a separate bag or pillowcase with the pillowcase labelled with all the info that appears on the quilt label. 

So, as you can see, I have a lot of work to do in the next six weeks. But I also have books to read. I made a lot of progress on Cemetery Road yesterday, even though I had a dentist appointment and had to go grocery shopping. But the times I got home from all of that, pretty much all I was good for was lying on the couch and reading. The book is comparatively long--a smidgen over 600 pages. But it’s such a good book that I don’t mind the length. 

Can you believe April is already easing out the door? Every year, it seems that time speeds up more and more. One-third of 2019 is already history. I was hoping to be well on the way to being ready for Christmas by September. At this rate, it’s looking doubtful that that plan will pan out.

Here’s a hack for you. I ordered this gadget to hang mugs on in the kitchen beside my coffee maker. Well that was one of those ideas that looked better in the photos that it turned out to be. It’s just too large, with the mugs on it, to fit in the space I had planned for it. It just got in the way. So I decided to put the mugs back in the cabinet and take the gadget upstairs to the sewing room to hang all my scissors on. It works fine for that.

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On 05/02/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Sorry about that discovery of someone using your baskets as a loo. Tsk, tsk! Am glad nothing of value was lost.

6 weeks should be plenty of time to do the tasks needed to complete those quilts. Perhaps you should have a day to choose binding and hanging sleeve fabrics, a day to cut your chosen fabrics into strips for both bindings and hanging sleeves, a day to piece bindings,and a day to sew up those hanging sleeves. Then you can hand sew or machine sew while you mull over the wording for your quilt labels and write each one down along with a note about which quilt it would go on. Make the labels. You'll probably have several weeks left to get the quilts finished and hope taking things one at a time will help.

I LOVE that floral label that shows in the top photo. Is it a stamp or printed fabric?

Great idea for the mug tree!

Hugs!
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Too Many Books

One reason it has been a week since I’ve blogged is that I find myself with too many books to read. I love books and reading, but I’ve let my TBR (too be read) list get clogged up. I have even taken to reading multiples at a time to try to catch up. Just now, I’m reading Black Helicopters by Caitlin R. Kiernen, The Cage-Maker by Nicole Seitz, and Cemetery Road by Greg Isles. Michelle Obama sits on the mantel staring out at me with her beautiful smile from the cover of her book Becoming, asking “When will you get to me?” An intriguing copy of Philip Shirley’s The Graceland Conspiracy lies on top of the end table beside the couch. The Sally Field biography e-book is about to expire and be recalled to the library. And I don’t know how many titles from Amazon are stored on my Kindle, waiting for my eyes.

How did I ever get them piled up like this? I don’t know. I think I need to take a couple of weeks off from all my day-to-day doings, go to the beach, and read to my heart’s content. Maybe after the quilt show in June.

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On 04/29/2019, Debbie Price said ...

Too many books?? Never! Not enough hours, perhaps. Surrounding yourself with books is what you should do.

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On 04/30/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

What a glorious conundrum! No, you don't need to wait to go to the beach. Just put a load of laundry in the washer and sit to read. Move the laundry to the dryer, either start another load of laundry or start the dishwasher, and sit to read. It's the best kind of multi-tasking and you deserve time to read. Enjoy!

Oh, have some lemonade or iced tea along with the phones next to you so you don't have to get up unless the laundry calls.

Hugs!
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Easter Weekend

I can’t say it was easy, but it was certainly a great weekend. I ate too much and pushed too far, but I’m glad I did. I think everyone had a great time, talking and laughing and picking and singing. It was just perfect. But it all caught up with me yesterday afternoon after church. I spent most of the afternoon dozing on the couch until Ramey came by to have some leftovers with me. After she left, I went back to the couch and dozed between Skipper’s barks for the rest of the evening. Went to bed at 10:00 (early of me) and slept well.

Some Easter tags that resulted from a tag swap I was in several years ago.

Some Easter critters

 

This was my corn salad...

...which decided it wanted to be a pasta salad. It was a hit. 

Mrs. Smith helped me make an apple pie. But Ramey’s unbelievable Coca Cola cake took center stage on the dessert table. 

We also had ham, chicken and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with bacon, corn casserole, apricot jello salad, cranberry sauce, butter rolls, brownies, cheese cake, and vanilla ice cream. I need to spend the next few weeks eating spinach, lettuce, and broccoli, and drinking nothing but water. Like that’s gonna happen.

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On 04/22/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Great decorations but even better is the fun, food, and family together that made it all worth the effort you put into making this just right. Those naps were well deserved!

Might you share the recipe for Ramey's Coco Cola cake?

I don't recommend it, but if you catch whatever has ailed us for the last 2 weeks, you'll lose weight. It has been like a super cold or flu without fever or aching, 24 hours with no sense of taste, then *preto* no appetite. I've lost 5 lb. We're still coughing.

Hugs!
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Easter Sunday

You ask me how I know he lives; he lives within my heart.

It all worked out--all my plans. It wasn’t easy, but the effort paid off. We had a wonderful Easter dinner here at the Yellow House yesterday. Most of the family was here. The fool was plentiful and scrumptious. We got to hear Ramey and India pick and sing on Jesse’s guitar. Life is good.

Best wishes to all of you for a glorious Easter Sunday. I’m off to church.

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On 04/21/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Easter blessings to you and your family!

I'm so glad all of the plans you made and hoped to have done worked out and you had energy to spare to get to church this morning!

Hugs!
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The Good, the Bad, and the Worse

Today: 
    Plan Easter family dinner
    Make grocery list
    Do grocery shopping
    Start house cleaning
Worry about tornado weather 
    Hunker down in the evening and monitor the weather

Tomorrow (Good Friday)
   ( Assuming we’ve weathered the severe weather)
Finish house cleaning and laundry
Hair cut appointment

Holy Saturday (Sabbatum Sanctum):
Cooking in the morning
    Host family dinner in the evening (nine people)

Easter Sunday
    Morning: Go to church 
Lunch: Someplace besides my house  
Afternoon & Evening: Lie on couch motionless and binge on “Sneaky Pete”

So there you have it. Or, actually, there I have it. Will I make it through to the couch and “Sneaky Pete” episodes. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.

But my clematis is thriving.

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On 04/19/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Wishing you well with your plan for the coming days and will hope and pray for no tornadoes.

DH and I are still coughing our throats raw, sniffling, sneezing, and worn out by what has ailed DH for 2 weeks and me for 9 days. I call it some kind of flu because it's too intense to be a cold or allergies to pollen.

It's going to be a very stormy day here, too.

Happy Easter!

Hugs!
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Ain’t No Spring Chicken

Today, I’m feeling more like winter buzzard. Not a good day at all. When the morning started out with much pain and awkwardness, I was determined to push through and get some things done today--like finish the quilt show registrations, maybe even sew the binding on the Bow Wow quilt--at least change the sheets on my bed, sheets that have copious clumps and blankets of pet hair. I managed to get the pillows stripped of their covers, and the top part of the sheets pulled back. I’ll finish when the cats decide to get off the bed. They were off earlier, but somehow by the time I got to the bed, Bella was back in his bed cat bed--that’s what I call the cat beds that I keep on the foot of my bed for Taco and Bella.

Over the past week, I’ve dug out enough Easter/Spring do-dats to fill my tier stand. that’s about it for the Easter decorating, I think. I got out my collection of Spring themed tags that I acquired in a swap years ago, but I haven’t done anything with them yet. Don’t know that I will. I thought that chicken candy dispenser needed a sign, so I made her one, as you can see at top. If you push down on her head, she cackles and lays an egg.

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On 04/16/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Too cute! Well done on getting your table decoration all dressed up for Easter. I've gotten out a few rabbits and that's going to be it as this horrid cold has left me with even less energy.

Hope you get to the Bow Wow binding as that will be satisfying progress. I hope to start machine quilting a 9 Patch table runner that needs to be finished by the 24th. Fingers crossed for both of us!

Hugs!
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Tornado Night Gift

I believe this is the first Tornado Night gift
I’ve ever received. 

As dangerous tornado weather was predicted for us for Saturday night, daughter Andy spent the night with the Yellow House Gang. She came bearing gifts (or gift), a copy of First Lady Michelle Obama’s autobiography. Mrs. Obama is a hero of mine, so I was quite please and elated.

As the night wore on with just a few showers and nothing dangerous, Andy camped out on the couch to watch Netflix and I went to my bed to read (all the animals went with me). Jesse was in his room doing whatever he does in his room.

I resolved to stay awake in case things got dicey during the night, but alas my resolve didn’t stick. I fell asleep.

I’m pretty sure that I heard some thunder rumbles in the night, but obviously they didn’t rumble loud enough to wake me.

I awoke around 6:30, got up, and Andy was preparing to go home. We were happy that the deadly weather had not materialized, said goodbye to each other, and I made my coffee and sat down to drink it and catch the news. That’s when I learned we’d had a near miss. Apparently everybody in the area woke up around 4:00 a.m., having been alerted to an imminent tornado warning by their phones, weather radios, tornado sirens, or whatever, went to their basements, donned their helmets, and shivered in their boots for while. And we missed all the excitement, for which I am eternally grateful.

But not all the news was good. Sadly, this particular tornado outbreak wasn’t so kind to some others. There were deaths, although not in Alabama. I pray for God’s peace and blessing on those affected. 

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On 04/15/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

So glad your area wasn't harmed by the tornados but it's sad that other areas were so damaged. Today's sad news is about The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and the fire that is burning there. Heartbreaking.

I plan to get "Becoming" from the library.

Sh and I have horrid colds and he's been sick for 10 days, me for just 5 days but it's been no fun. Sniffle,sniff, blow, repeat.

Hugs!
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Easter Decorating

This year, I decided to include an Easter basket in the foyer decorations. I haven’t made an Easter basket since the all the kids were children. My basket (which I purchased at Michael’s) contains a chenille bunny rabbit from the thrift store, some colorful grass and eggs from Michael’s, and a few other little do-dads that I already had. No candy or chocolate rabbits or real eggs. 

As I do every spring, I hung my bunny rabbit quilt on the hanger (made for me by Vann many years ago). I made this quilt, which I call “Bunnies in the Cabin” (log-cabin blocks) in 2011. I did all the piecing, appliqué, and embroidery; and a good friend and super quilter, Elayne Vognild, quilted it for me. It won a first-place ribbon in one of our Birmingham Quilters Guild quilt shows, 2015 I believe.

As you see, this quilt also serves as the banner for my blog and has done so for several years.

Happy Holy Week, everyone. Here at the Yellow House, we’re in line for some very dangerous weather through tomorrow, Palm Sunday. So if that weather comes to pass, I will probably be spending my Palm Sunday hunkered down here. Stay safe, everyone.

 

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On 04/13/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Your rabbit quilt is one of my favorites quilts that you've made, Susan. It's the perfect backdrop for your cheerful Easter basket, too.

Today would have been my parent's 76th wedding anniversary as they married on Thomas Jefferson's birthday.

DH and I both have the spring cold from HE double hockey sticks and are sniffling and sneezing our heads off

Stay well and have a lovely Easter week.

Hugs!
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Sad Sewing Room

For the past couple of years (maybe more), I’ve been working in a sewing room that looks like a scene from “Hoarders.” I’ve managed to make quilting progress by pushing whatever mess is in my way at the time over or stacking it all on top of another mess and continuing on. I just can’t do it anymore. All the stacks got too high, and the mess was inhibiting me.

So before I cut out another piece or stitch another seam, this room is getting a complete overhaul. Well, some kind of an overhaul anyway. You can see in the photos that I have gathered everything off the floor, all the boxes and baskets and bins, in preparation for said overhaul. Jesse is going to help me, and we’re going to make this room again a pleasant place to work.

Looking northeast

Looking southwest

Sib Day

Yesterday was National Siblings Day. I feel bad for any woman who does not have sisters. They seem like a necessary part of life to me. My best friends, my go-to folks when I have troubles or triumphs, my partners in crime, my sources for tons of fun and laughter.

The picture above shows me and my two sisters. Joanne is the oldest (12 at the time). She is holding Ramey (we called her Pat or Patsy when we were growing up). And there is three-year-old me, standing in front, scowling because Mama made us stand facing the sunshine and it was bothering my eyes. (That’s how you had to take picture with a Brownie. No flash.)

Practically every picture I can find of me as a kid has a pissed-off look on my face. I must have been a miserable kid, or maybe I just didn’t like to have my picture taken. Still don’t. You should see my recent (last month) driver’s license photo. It’s horrible, and I’m definitely not showing it here. It’s hiding in my wallet where it will only come out if demanded by an officer of the law or an election official.

BOOK CLUB MEETING

Tuesday afternoon, my book club met at our new local eatery, The Three Earred Rabbit. Yes, I know “eared” is misspelled. But that’s how they spell it, so that’s how it is--the rabbit has three ears, the the word has two Rs. The Rabbit is located in an historic building which housed the popular Power’s Cafe when I was growing. In addition to a great place for burgers, french fries, and sweet tea, it was also the site of the Greyhound Bus Station. One of our town’s few claims to fame is that Elvis once stopped in on his way someplace and had a burger. This and Charles Barkley puts Leeds on the map.

I believe it was in the early 60s or maybe the very late 50s that Elvis stopped by for sustenance at our local restaurant, Power’s Cafe. He’s seated here with the daughter of the restaurant’s owners.

 ^"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."--Matthew 25:35-36

I love the scripture verse over the counter. It’s one of my favorite verses from my favorite book of the Bible,  the Gospel of Matthew. For me, that book contains all we need to know to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Anyway, it was a good meeting. Good food, good friends, good book. We discussed the very popular Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. If you haven’t read this one and you love a good story, I can recommend it with enthusiasm. It has all the things I love in a book: good story, unpredictable plot,  lifelike characters, intriguing setting, and beautiful writing--all combined into one good book.

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On 04/11/2019, Stephani in N. TX said ...

Glad you have a little coffee clatsch (SP?) place to join friends. Loved your dogwood, your Spring Princess, and your poetry. Hope Spring is kind to you and to Alabama.
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Glorious Springtime

Looks like global warming might be good for something. The flowering trees, especially the dogwood, are more lush and gorgeous this year than I’ve ever seen them. Of course with all those beautiful blossoms comes mounds of pollen, and I and many others are suffering accordingly. But the beauty is worth this discomfort, I believe.

Here is a collaged journal page and a poem honoring Spring that I created in my first year of blogging, back in 2007. I did not inherit the poetry gene that both my sisters are blessed with. But occasionally I’m able to plunk one out. I think this is one of three poems I’ve written in my life that I’m not ashamed for someone to read.

Flora: Goddess of Springtime

*
Beneath Winter’s frosty dream
She sleeps:
Crocus Queen, May Princess,
Mother of the second season.
Earth’s axis tilts in space;
Sun’s vernal beams awaken her;
Her hair blooms.

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On 04/08/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Lovely!!!!

Big hugs

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On 04/08/2019, Quilting Tangent said ...

Beautiful tree!

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On 04/09/2019, Pat said ...

A few words and it says it all. Our dogwoods are beautiful here in NE Miss, too. I used to journal this way. My interest has been rekindled lately. Time to pick it up again!
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Jesse Turns 30

Another busy weeks, so far. Sunday, we celebrated Jesse’s "Big Three Oh” here at the Yellow House. I made chicken and dressing, at his request. His mom baked him a delicious chocolate cake and brought ice crease to accompany it. It was lots of fun, and we all ate too much.

After the festivities, Andy and I watched “The Wife,” starring Glenn Close and a male actor whose name I can’t recall. It was a truly excellent movie, with Ms. Close giving an amazing performance as the wife of a Novel-Prize-winning novelist. That’s all I’ll say since revealing the true premise of the movie would give away too much.  I will add that the movie made me angry, but I think it was supposed to.

On Monday, I delivered “Gypsy” to Lena for quilting. We decided on straight line vertical channel quilting with a very pale peach thread. Lena promised to have it ready in plenty of time for me to bind it and add a sleeve and enter it in our quilt show. My sister Ramey went with me to delivery the quilt. On the way home we stopped by our favorite thrift store, and I found this beautiful red transfer ware plate (photo below). I collect red transfer ware. The ballon couple figurines were my mama’s. 

Yesterday was all day laundry day. And today should have been too, as I only got halfway finished. But I’ve been moving very slowly so far today. I did make to to the drug store to pick up some prescriptions. When I returned, I threw a load of sheets in the washer, and that has been it. I sat down and perused a new Connecting Threads catalog, checked my email, went on Facebook, now here I am. I’m not sure what the rest of the afternoon will hold. I have vowed to give the sewing room a good cleaning before I work on any more projects. But it won’t happen today. Maybe tomorrow.

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On 04/04/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

A slightly belated Happy Birthday to Jesse!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In a couple of weeks, our baby will be 35 - yikes! Where did the time go?

Well done in getting Gypsy to your quilter and I love your newly acquired transferware plate. It is lovely!

As long as you get those sheets into the dryer and push the start button, they won't stink! ;)

Enjoy resting up. Hugs!
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