Thanksgiving

Ah, another Thanksgiving comes to an end.  Its always nice to gather together those nearest and dearest to my heart.  We of course ate plenty, and then everyone just relaxed a bit...the modern way.  :)

We ate our meal at lunchtime, and for those wanting to watch football games, they weren't on until a bit later.  Not only was this group tuned to their various technological games, Elizabeth took the picture, edited it to include Albert Einstein, and sent it to Facebook...all while I sat with my feet up, looking on.  I think Angela, Elise and I were the only ones without a gadget in our hands.  That's okay, we make up for it during the week.  :)   Oops, I have to take back that part about me not having a gadget in my hands...I took a couple of pictures too.

On a different note, I tried my hand at making a little coin purse this week.  I had bought the purse frame, 2 of them actually, because I saw the coin purses over on Thearica's blog.   I had to come up with a pattern, and this one is a bit longer than I want, so I'll probably re-do it to more closely resemble the smaller purses that Thearica has.   I also want to work on it to make it feel more firmly attached, it feels like a good tug could separate the fabric from the clasp.  All that's holding it is the little bit of hand stitching you can see on the clasp.  It was a good use of my crazy quilting fabric though, with a shiny brocade on the outside, and a satin-like lining on the inside.

Let me close by saying I'm so thankful for the life I have with my family and friends.  Each day I wake up with a "thank you" in my heart.  Don't let Thanksgiving be a once-a-year event...make it continuous.

a bug got me

All I can think of is that a cleaning bug must have bitten me.  It was a small one though, because I've not tackled anything major. 

Earlier this week for some reason I decided to clean my dining room windows.  Is this something I do regularly?  No, far from it.  But awhile back I had to spray at a wasp that managed to get in the house, and he was on the window, so you now have a visual of the dried wasp spray that had dripped down the window.  I could have just taken the windex and squirt the one area and been done with it, but no, I took off the screens so I could clean down in the "gutter" part of the window, as well as getting the inside and out.   I was fortunate this week that I had a helper, which made the job much more enjoyable.

I can well remember years ago that window washing was one of our chores assigned by Mom.  And I'm talking all around the house.  Fortunately those windows had a little mechanism that opened them out away from the house, and it was easy enough to clean both sides while standing outside.  And you know, I actually kind of enjoyed it.  Instant gratification in being able to see a job well done, one that made a difference.

This morning the bug either bit again or the virus was reactivated.  As I was looking at my spices to see if I needed more of one particular item, I noticed an out-of-date container.  Then another one.  Then another one.  You get the idea.  I don't cook a whole lot, and it's not unusual to pick up a spice when I need it, especially with holiday cooking.  Well...as I started pulling things off the turntable, I was dismayed at how much needed to be tossed.  But I was ruthless, and jars started flying.  Well actually the contents started flying into the trash, the containers themselves will be rinsed off and into the recycling tub.

In other news, I recently went bowling with Robert and the kids while Angela had a  Bunco night with some friends.   We went to an older bowling alley in Cleburne, and had a great time.  I even dragged out and dusted off my bowling ball and shoes that have been sitting in their bag patiently waiting for me the last ten years or so.  I did realize my body ain't what she used to be as I tried to be graceful in my swing.  Oh well, I didn't want to outshine everyone too bad, so it worked out fine.   As we were getting set up, we noticed a plastic dinosaur off to the side.  We took a closer look, and they're for the kids to set the ball on top and push it down, rather than trying to swing or heft the ball.  Between that and the gutter rails, we all did pretty good!

I don't know why their pictures came out in different sizes, I still haven't figured out getting pictures from my phone onto the blog in a really good format.

Okay, better get around.  Have a good week!

let the sewing begin!

Such an exciting day!  Emma and I had our first sewing session together!

We took a few minutes to get familiar with her sewing machine.  She had sewn a bit on it before this, but was glad for a refresher course.  We adjusted the tension to get a nice stitch on both sides of her fabric, and then she sewed several rows of stitching to get comfortable with guiding the fabric through.  For an 8-year old girl, sewing can be an intimidating process, but she was so willing to get right at it.  

She happened to have a UFO (unfinished object) in the form of a doll quilt she had started previously, but was not able to finish.  This worked out really well, because she already had the squares cut for the one remaining row.  Emma laid them out in an order she liked, and stitched them together.  Once the row was completed and ironed, she attached it to the other two rows.

I helped her with another pressing to keep it nice and neat, then we added a backing to it.  I cut the backing, and she did the stitching and pulled it right side out.  Another pressing, and I helped her stitch the opening closed.   She and her mom liked the idea of a tie quilt, so I showed her how to tie it off with embroidery floss, though we could have used yarn.  I left her with the homework assignment of finishing  the tying off and making the bed for her doll!

Great job Emma.  I enjoyed our lesson.  I see great things ahead.  :)

In other news, Halloween has now come and gone.  Here are three of my favorite little trick-or-treaters.