Wayback Wednesday: May 6, 2026

 

Do you remember Snagglepuss (above) or Muttley (below)?

Actually, most of us will remember that we always checked pennies to see if it was a "wheatback".  Today the wheatback is still worth about five cents!

This is how I learned to drive:

We used to have a morning AND an evening paper!

Have a super day!

Tuesday's This and That: May 5, 2026

 

We had a thunderstorm roll through about 3 a.m. this morning.  I had planned to do more weeding this morning but now everything is all wet so I guess I'll actually do some sewing before going to care for my Mom.  

I've now realized that the weeding of the garden borders won't be finished until about June.  For almost a month, I have been binding one quilt.  Everything is taking longer because I have little spare time.  Most of what I do is accomplished before 10 a.m. when all the responsibilities begin...and that's okay.  Right now, the people that I love take precedence.  

***

Gadgets I like!

The first is the Lap App.  You can check it out here.  I got this a while ago after my last hand surgery.   It is still useful to me.  I've been marking fabric at night and I can do that because the base of the top has sandpaper on it and grips the fabric.

Through the years, I've made various gadgets to use while hand sewing on my chair at night.  But too many times my homemade lap desks have been unsteady and I spend as much time retrieving fallen notions as I do sewing.  The Lap App is so sturdy that I can put it on the arm of the recliner (while Lucky sleeps on my lap) and nothing falls.

The other thing I like is the Becca Box (here).  This has been such a good tool while I'm taking folks to doctor and hospital appointments.  The box has a lock mechanism, magnetic areas of the box and a place to store everything! It is also SMALL enough to put in a small bag when I'm taking my hand sewing to appointments.

What sewing tools or gadgets do you find useful?

***

I'm off.  I have to walk Lucky and get going with the day!

Have a safe and happy Tuesday!

Flower Friday: May 1, 2026

 

Happy May Day!

And Happy Flower Friday!

The honeysuckle is blooming.  It seems early to me but it's been a weird year.  It's May 1 and only 40 degrees Farenheit outside.

Forget-Me-Nots planted in honor of Janet a few years ago:

Interesting Iris blooming and I think it Cherry Laurel behind:

A weed that I loved as a kid is Fleabane.  I kept seeing this on my walks and it reminded me of how much Nana appreciated all flowers, even the weeds.

Cranesbill Geranium:

Today I'm taking flowers to my Mom, Kathy, and my brother Jim as is the tradition of May Day.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Updates

 

I've been trying to get over a cold/flu thing complicated by seasonal allergies.  Over the weekend I didn't really get anything done except to clean out my sewing room.  It was huge task but so worthwhile.  Nothing feels better than entering a sewing room that's been reorganized.

I  caught the cold/flu thing from my brother. 

I think at first Jim felt bad about that and started picking up Lucky every morning to entertain him (my husband is not that kind of dog lover).  Lucky loved going with him and even recognizes his car coming down the street which tickles my brother to no end.

Lucky does have tantrums.  Sometimes it's when we leave someone's house or pass a dog he wants to play with in the park.  He grabs the leash as if to play tug of war and growls like he is so fierce 😂

He did this to my brother the other day and my brother dropped the leash because he read somewhere that is how to curb that behaviour.  Lucky looked at the leash, picked up the end that people hold and gave it back to my brother.  He doesn't want to lose his people. 💗

I'm slowly binding a quilt and cutting fabric for my next quilt.  This is the first year that I realize that I'm probably not going to get many quilts completed.  That's okay.  The journey is fun enough.

I'm also taking my time on the garden.  It's an overwhelming amount of weeds but I am working on it as I can.  A lot of my bushes are burnt by frost and cold temps.  We had that weather that was 20F a week or so ago and it really did a number on my bushes.  I'm sure all will survive but it startled me to see how bad things looked. Hydrangea and Rhododendron:

  

Lastly, I'm wondering if you will look at a quilt idea I found.  The youtube channel is "Karen Quilts" and the link is here.  She made a crazy quilt with indigos and I'm attracted to what she did.  I have some indigo type fabrics and didn't know what to do with them.  This appeals to me.  What do you think?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: April 24, 2026

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Today I have a smaller selection of photos due to the cold snap and a cold/flu thing I had this week.  You are welcome to email me photos of your plants and flowers as well.  But from what I've read, a lot of you are dealing with rollercoaster temps as well.  Diann (Little Penguin Quilts) even had snow a week ago!

I am hoping to get some more weeding and clean-up done this weekend.  What are you going to be doing?

This week's flowers:

Bleeding Hearts:

Lungwort:

False Solomon Seal:

English Hyacinth:

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Wayback Wednesday: April 22, 2026

 

My paternal grandfather was really funny.  He loved television and was the first person in his neighborhood to buy one.  Pop-pop absolutely HATED commercials.  It was the one thing he wouldn't tolerate.

We kids never had to be the "channel changer" my grandfather had a more ingenious method.  He attached a long metal washline pole to the tv and could turn the volume down during the commercial and then resume the noise when the program returned.  

In the 1960s, Pop got a remote control tv because apparently the technology improved.  I later learned that the owner of the Zenith company wanted his engineers to develop "a device to tune out annoying commercials."

The one exception Pop had was the commercial that featured a giggling little boy inundated with puppies.  I thought it was a Kodak commercial but the internet says it was a Pepsi one.  I was older and it struck me as so odd that Pop actually liked a commercial.  Do you remember that?

What childhood shows do you remember?  My pop loved Mitch Miller and REALLY loved Lawrence Welk.  We used to watch Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom at his house as well.  We never watched Ed Sullivan...at home or at Pop's. 

My Pop loved Lawrence Welk so much he used to tape the show on his reel-to-reel recorder and relisten to the show during the week.  

I have been thinking about tv because recently a show came on youtube that featured Shari Lewis and Lambchop.  

My brother and I LOVED Lambchop.  We even insisted checking out Shari's and Lambchop's albums from the library.  But...and don't laugh...I just found out that Lambchop was a puppet made from a sock.  I never saw the sock.  I so believed in the magic of that show that to me Lambchop was not a real animal but I couldn't see that he was hand made from a simple sock.  

What was your favorite show when you were young?

Have a safe and happy day!

PS--this ad was misleading.  We were never allowed to sit close to the color tv because we would get radiated or something.

That's probably Dinah Shore singing "See the USA, in your chevrolet..."  Sorry if you have that song going through your head for the rest of the day....😁

Babies, Bandages, and Broideries

 

I think in the 1970s that when one would order something...a sewing pattern or magazine, the company would send a free stork embroidery scissors.

The scissors were cheap and I didn't enjoy using them.  I actually prefer using a baby manicure scissor when I sew.  The blunt ends help prevent me nipping the fabric by mistake.

Beth was telling me about the origin of stork scissors.  I had never heard this before...or I forgot it.😐

Apparently midwives used stork scissors in the 19th century---but they were used as clamps not scissors.  The clamps were used to stop the blood flow to the umbilical cord in a baby.  I found a few photos online.  

See that little pocket above.  The inlay is to accomodate the other side of the stork's body:

The folklore around storks and babies may go back as early as the Ancient Greeks.  There's lots of different stories on the internet and I won't enthrall you with all of them.  Here are some good links:  BBC,  Live Science.

Were you ever told about the stork delivering babies?  We weren't but we knew enough from popular culture.  When my kid brother was born, there were a lot of stork cards sent. 😄

Do you have a pair of stork scissors?  Do you use them a lot?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: April 17, 2026

 

Happy Flower Friday!

Carolyn shared her pretty daffodils!

Denise's tulips and azaleas:

Our walks at the park produced two flowers.  I could identify because Sue taught me how to use the google thing on my phone. It looks like this:

Narcissus poetic:

Virginia Bluebells:

Have a safe and happy weekend!