Wayback Wednesday: February 11, 2026

 

I saw this on Pinterest:

What the heck are they talking about?  

I have that thermostat in my house.

If you want to go wayback, remember these light switches:

My paternal grandparents had these switches and I was always fascinated by them.  Who can resist a button?

Othe things I have:

Yes I have one of these and it still cuts paper really well.  My great-grandparents used it in the family drug store in Centralia.  I think they made pill container labels with the paper cutter.

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I'm writing this on Tuesday and Lucky is literally barking the window while a light snow falls.

I think Lucky has had enough.

Happily, we are going to get a small amount of warmer weather...even as high as 37 degrees Farenheit!

A big change from our temps of 0-19 degrees!

I hope the weather is good for you too!

Have a great day!

Two Finishes

 

Life has been chaotic.

I have three patients these days.

My mother told my brother she was having chest pains but then refused to go to the ER.  Long story short, I got her to a cardiologist and she is "an extremely healthy senior."  So that is one problem out of the way.

My brother has been in a lot of pain.  He has osteoporosis and two years ago broke a bone in his back by doing nothing...seriously.  Anyway, this past week he was also in terrible pain and I was afraid he broke another bone in his back.  He's slightly better.  He needs an x-ray again but is being stubborn.

And of course, my husband has another episode of costochondritis, an inflammation around the rib cage.  He was moving furniture in his man cave and then went out to shovel--even though we hire a younger man to do that.  So he is a mess and just has to take it easy again.

I sew whenever I have a moment to breathe.  Since all three of my patients can be frustrating with their stubborness, I keep repeating this to myself:

ANYWAY...I have two finishes to share this week.

Nora's quilt for her second birthday (yesterday was her party).

Also a new ladder quilt, the sewing themed quilt as you go hexie piece:

I have two more quilts to bind and am working on that now.

What are you working on?

Have a safe and happy day!

Wayback Wednesday: February 4, 2026

 

Most of you remember Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop.  My brother and I thought she was hilarious but we mostly knew her from her record albums we checked out of the library.

Lucky likes Lamb Chop too.  He has a 2 foot Lamb Chop that he plays with nightly.  So much so that I recently ordered a new Lamb Chop because the old one was dingy and had much stuffing removed by a little black dog.

I forgot how loyal dogs are--even to their toy friends.

Lucky loves playing with the new Lamb Chop but his old buddy is still his favorite.

My favorite show was Mighty Mouse.  I'm not even sure what I loved about that cartoon but I can still sing, "Here I come to save the day!  Mighty Mouse is on his way!"

We didn't have a color tv or cable when I was growing up.  My parents got both of those things after I had grown-up.  My grandfather did have a color tv and we got in trouble if we sat too close, did you?

What were you favorite tv shows when you were a kid?

Have a safe and happy day!

Bless the Beasts...

 

How are you doing?

I've been talking to neighbors who have animals and asking them if their dogs are eating more these days.  Why yes they are!  I'm seeing this with Lucky.  He normally eats around noon although I put his food down at breakfast.  Now he eats as soon as I put anything down.  

I looked it up and multiple sources relay that dogs need 2-3 times more than normal in cold winter.  This is especially true for Lucky--and dogs like him who are active.  Lucky is walked different times during the day.  The temperatures have barely been above 0 degrees Farenheit so it makes sense he is hungrier.

One of the downsides of town life is the thick amount of salt when we walk.  There's still a lot of ice out there too.  Lucky's paws are getting rough to the feel and I just re-ordered another tin of Bag Balm. 

Our groomer Jessa had recommended it years ago and we've put it on all our dogs paws (none of them would wear booties).

A robin has moved into our Beauty Berry bush.  He or she is there everyday and yesterday chased a bunch of sparrows away.  I'm glad.  Many of our robins remain here in the winter.  Often we see flocks of them together at the park and learned years ago that they did that to stay warm and find food together.

Many robins die in the winter of starvation and/or cold.  One article suggested that the birds can lose 10 percent of their body weight just to keep warm in a single night.  So we have been feeding birds but the squirrels steal most of the seeds.  I'm glad the robin has moved here and is happily eating the berries.

Wishing you a safe and happy day!

Groundhog Day

 

Happy Groundhog's Day!

It's my mom's birthday today and my hubby and I have arranged for a bunch of relatives to meet us at her favorite restaurant.  I even ordered a corsage for her which I hope she likes.

My mom's having some cardiac problems and my sister-aunt Kathy has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  Kathy has surgery to remove the thyroid and lymphnoids later this week.  There are other ailments (knees, ribs, etc) but not as pressing as mom's and Kathy's.   Today should be a good day for a bunch of us to see each other and hopefully make each other laugh.

How are you spending Groundhog's Day?  Do you believe the predictions on this day?

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday

 49 days until Spring!

I woke up this morning with a decision about my garden:  I would not grow vegetables.  I must have been dreaming about garden plans.  Apparently the soundtrack to this dream must have been Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant" because that has been going through my head as well.

Anyway since I lack real flowers, here are some textile ones to start the weekend:

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Scrap Blocks

On my last blog post, I mentioned that I was working on two pieces right now.  One is a orphan block/scrap quilt.

When I local sewing shop decided to move and only focus on machine repairs, all the fabric and kits went on sale.  I bought a bunch of little bags of Thangles kits--not because I wanted to make HSTs but I just liked the 1930s fabrics.  Honestly, I prefer making HSTs the old fashioned way.  After years of moving the little baggies, I ended up making 4-patches.  Then the 4-patches sat around here until I had a big basket of 1930s scraps.

By December, I had decided I must do something with them.  And if I could also use the Kona Snow that's been living here for years, that would be great too!

I didn't count anything just cut the 3.75 squares to go into the blocks and let it at that.  I was hoping to get a lap quilt and maybe even a baby quilt out of the blocks.  The blocks came out to 7 inches square and that can make a nice quilt.

On Tuesday, I told Beth I had finished the blocks.  "So how many blocks did you get?" she asked.  And then burst into laughter when I told her--159.

After my post on Tuesday Sue commented that she has boxes of 1.5 inch blocks she's cut through the years.  Sue's mission is to sew at least five 9-patches a day.  This is a really honorable quest and I wonder how many blocks she will get.  

I found this idea online:

For some reason this reminds me of a Florence Peto quilt you can see an adaptation here.  

Sue doesn't know what she will make with the 9 patches but it is honorable work and I can't wait to find out how many blocks she got from her boxes!  Sue is one of the best quilters I know and whatever she makes will be fantastic!

Have a safe and happy day!

Snow Days

 

So we got a foot of snow over the weekend!

How much did you get?

It's Tuesday and the kids are still out of school.

I think they are attending virtually today.

We are expecting more next weekend.

My back is out due to shoveling and walking an overexcited puppy.  Our neighbors all were out yesterday and working to get everyone's parking space and pathways clear.  Brad was out there and said he felt really old in comparison to the neighbors (he is old).  We are the seniors on our block and they didn't want us out helping.  We do pay our one neighbor to keep us clear and he did a great job as usual.  

I still can't get the puppy to go to the bathroom in our yard.😒  I have to walk and walk him to get him to go.  I dug out some space in the backyard for him but he still wouldn't use it.  I don't mind the snow.  I do mind walking for a half hour or more in weather that feels like -7 farenheit.  ("Lucky, will you go please!!!")

Still I'm happy for a real winter.  This really reminds me of the 1995 and 1996 snows that just seemed to go on and on through the winter.

Projects I'm working on:

Sewing themed  ladder quilt.  Yes, it's wrinkled I just put it up to see how much more I have to add.

Orphan blocks (four patch) and scraps.  I'm almost done making the blocks.  I wonder how many there will be?

I'm also binding a quilt for Nora's second birthday in February.

How did you make out in the storm?

Have a safe and happy day!

Bored in a Storm?

 

So if you don't lose power and are bored you can sew, bake, eat, shovel, watch tv, or play on the internet.

I'm not interested in buying anthing these days but I sure enjoy looking at antiques...especially sewing themed ones.  

Here's a website that has a lot of things available on auction.

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More vintage and antique inspiration is available at Dana's Auction.  Lots of antique quilts to study and some really neat sewing notions.  There's a pin cushion on this site that made me laugh out loud.  Can you find it?

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There are fun paper snowflakes you can enjoy and study here!

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An interesting article on the return of letter writing and typewriters is here!

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Of course you and sew and that is what I hope to be doing (in between shoveling and walking the dog).  I have a hand project to work on in case we lose power...do you?

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Stay safe and warm!

Update

 

Greetings and salutations!

So here's the scoop:

We switched to Verizon recently.  It was good for a few weeks.  Until the past week or so.  Now everything stops about 5 times a day.  The internet goes down but so do the regular tv channels (we're on verizon cable).  Hopefully by the time you read this, it will be repaired as they are coming Thursday afternoon.

I'm writing this early in case it crashes again.

I did work on Lucky's coat last night.  Can velcro wear out?  I had a tough time keeping Lucky's coat on him (okay he also gained weight like me).  Last night I attached snaps and voila!  His coat stayed on.

I'm wondering how many of you are expecting snow this weekend?  We still have no idea how much will fall.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

The Reset

 

Sorry about the rant on the blog last week (I took it down).

The mood derived slightly from the consistent grey days.  A lot of the negativity had to do with the utter cruelty and lack of democratic values displayed in the U.S. these days.

So last week I went to see Tom and got my hair cut, fairly short for me.  That helped!

Also I cleaned out old craft supplies and took them to a local store called "Cut the Scrap!"  This is a sustainable craft store.  Instead of throwing out craft supplies (including fabric), people donate it to the store (you can earn store credit that way).  

I donated scrapbooking supplies I've had since the grandkids were young.  I was just happy to get the stuff out of my attic.  I also rummaged around and picked up some Jinny Beyer fabric.  

But guess what?  I did get my snow days--2 in fact.  Over the weekend we got 7-8 inches---not the half to 1 inch predicted. 

That helped my attitude.  I sewed and we visited neighbors as well.  It was a fun weekend for us.  Lucky doesn't revel in the snow like some of my dogs had in the past.  We walk and then he wants to come in and play with his toys.  It wasn't so called over the weekend but now we will have limited exposure to the bitter temperature arriving.

Right now it is 11 degrees and going up to 19 F.  It will plummet tonight to single digits.  

It's a night for chili!  

Growing up, my family always put sweet corn in the chili.  My husband had never heard of that but he loves it.  I'm just wondering if that was done in our family to make the food stretch.

I wish you a happy and peaceful day!  Stay warm!

Dr. Martin Luther King Day

 

Flower Friday: January 9, 2026

 

My sister aunt gave me an amarllyis bulb for Christmas.

I'm happy she did.  It provided some sunshine in another bleak week in our country.

The Amaryllis is blooming!

And blooming!

I've decided what to do with the waterlily bloom orphan blocks.  Originally was going to do a full quilt of them with lily pads or something.  I can't even find my original sketches.  I must have used the green fabric I had put aside for it.  there was only about a half yard left.  I just want it all used at this point and am working on another ladder quilt:

I actually really love this design now.  I have just enough green to finish this top off!

Wishing you a safe and happy week!

Three Trays

 

Quilters have certain times of the year.  The New Year means cleaning up the sewing room, assessing UFOs and WIP, and considering projects we want to make.

I didn't really do that last year.  I decided I just wanted to have fun and I did!  A lack of sewing resolutions seems to make me more motivated because I feel more flexible about my options.

One of the things that happened last year was that I used up a lot of scraps in my project.  Particularly 2.5 inch blocks which I used for various quilts.  

I read this meme and then realized something:

Somehow, I developed a system for my projects.  I didn't mean to but it just happened.  It comes down to three plastic basket trays I keep on a tv tray table.  

The first tray is for one scrap project.  Another is for using a UFO or orphan blocks.  The third one is for a project that utilizes my yardage.  Because there are always three trays of projects, I can move to one or the other if I get bored.  

What surprised me was that this resulted in a more neat sewing room.  When one project is finished, I decide on another to fill the tray again.  

I never really thought about developing a system but for some reason this is working for me.  

The three tray projects for January are:

UFO or Orphan block:

  

 

Above:  I made 18 of these blocks way before Covid and then got tired of the project.  I want to use these up somehow!`

Scrap Quilt:

Years ago, when our local sewing shop was moving, they sold plastic bags of strips for thangles.  I think the baggies were kits for workshops they were doing.  I only bought some because they were 1930s reproduction fabric. The strips were thinner than 2.5 inch...and again, they sat in my drawer.  In December I cut more scraps (I'm nuts) to go with the strips and assembled some 4 patches.  I'll work on making blocks this month.  

Yardage:  

To be determined.  I haven't decided on which quilt to make!

By the way, hand sewing doesn't count.  The hand sewing lives by my recliner in the living room and in the travel bag I take everywhere.  Oddly, there are three projects in that category.

I know many of my friends have decided to just have fun with their sewing.  How about you?

Have a safe and happy day!