My Thoughts Today (How I develop new patterns)

I am in the process of thinking of a new project. I need something to carry with me to work on when waiting. It seems like I want to do something folk art that combines stitching, applique and piecing. I figure I can do the applique and stitching while waiting and the piecing at home. I think I am leaning towards folk art, because it is so free. A mistake in placement is never a mistake, but a new way to look at the piece of art.

I also want to use a soft fabric. I may even check out my limited flannel collection. I wish I had a nice selection of wool that I could felt and not have to worry about turning under, just do some interesting stitching around the edge.

I guess I need to really work on the pattern so I can pick the fabric. I do have some homespun plaids that would make nice backgrounds. Then I can add old fashion style of prints for a basket and some flowers.

A nice quote for what is going on in my mind right now....said by an artist I love, but many people I know have not idea I like this artist.


" If you know exactly what you are going to do, then what is the point of doing it?" Pablo Picasso

I find that many times the best laid plans on paper are changed as I actually work with the fabric. Sometimes fabrics just don't give the look I want when combined together. That is not to say the original idea was not a good idea, but maybe just not the right idea at the time.

I will post the progress with this project. Right now I am going to pick out a few fabrics.

Peggy

Quilting Treasures Patterns

I design patterns and make quilts for Quilting Treasures. My latest project was made with the Sunset Safari fabric I had left over from the the quilt in the picture. I made a tote that features the lower panel on the quilt creating pockets on the outside. As you can see Bill is modeling the new tote. The pattern will soon be available at the Quilting Treasures web site http://www.quiltingtreasures.com Keep looking under projects to see what is new. They have a much nicer picture of the tote, but they don't have the model I have!

The garden is winding down. Bill and I set some "Kosher" dill pickles today. I have never been much of a pickle maker or eater, but we have so many pickles we just hate to see them not be used. I have left over brine, but need to find more hot peppers before making another batch.

Since my last post we have canned pickle relish, spaghetti sauce and froze corn. Notice I said "we". Many of the projects at our house are family projects, so one person doesn't have to work so hard. By sharing the work we can all take pride in what gets done.

We finally had a bit of rain today. So maybe the potatoes will be able to be dug, as the ground where they were growing was like concrete the last time we tried. WOW! I just went to the door and it is pouring rain out there. We won't get into the garden tomorrow, as it will be one big mud hole.

Other home front news. Dad has fallen several times since his stroke. So far he has been lucky to just have bruises and minor cuts. The DR told him to stay out of the garden, because that is where he has fallen the most, but Friday he fell at the edge of the driveway. The part of the drive that "falls off" down a hill. The hill is steep and natural with trees, bushes, tall grasses and most likely some junk. He was fortunate to fall and stay on the drive and not go over the hill. He was lucky that Bill and I had decided to marinade the ribs before we left to check out the holiday happenings in town. We were able to help him get up, wash his wounds and made sure he made it upstairs.

Sometimes I think Dad is doing better, then he decides to do something he should not do like this afternoon picking blackberries. He told me about them yesterday and asked me to keep an eye on them and pick them. It was raining this morning, so Bill and I went to get some dill and vinegar for the pickles. I had planned to check them this evening after dinner hoping it would be cooler. I don't know why he thought they had to be picked immediately, as when Bill and I "caught" him there was less then a cup of berries ready!

Bill also received bad news about his application for disability. He was turned down, but was told he can only do one job. Now tell me with the job situation as it is today and us living in a rather rural area, where is that job? We are now reevaluating and trying to figure out what we need to do so we can keep an eye on Mom and Dad yet one of us work. This involves getting them to DR appointments or to the ER, taking Dad shopping, taking care of the vegetables from a huge garden we did not need, making most of the meals, doing laundry and most of the cleaning, picking Dad up off the ground at least 2 or 3 times a week, finding the things that Mom can't remember where she has it now stored and the most frustrating answering the same question we answered yesterday. I can go on and on, but that only leads to more frustration.

We need to look beyond today and keep our goals and plans for our future in the limelight, not moved to the back burner.

The Frustrations of "Old Age"

Just recently my father spend a few days in the hospital. He had a TIA or mini stroke. Unfortunately my mother and him did not tell Bill or I that he was not feeling well until it was too late for the DR to really help him So when we took him to the ER they could only do tests and put him in the hospital for observation. At least while in the hospital he was safe from himself. We can see the left side of his face droops a little and at times he still can't talk clearly enough for most to understand what he is saying. The worst is the drooling and his teeth falling out while he is trying to talk.

Almost as soon as he arrived home he was on his golf cart (electric and quiet) to survey his garden. (Now I need to tell you that "His" garden would not be growing at all if Bill and I had not tilled, fertilized, planted, cared for and harvested that lovely plot of land.) Surveying the garden from the cart would have been OK, but he got off to harvest some of the vegetables. When he decided to do this yesterday he fell twice in the bean patch. No one was there to help him get up, but he did manage to get to the cart. Most would know to come home, but no he went to see if Bill was catching any fish and see what else was going on in the neighborhood. When he arrived home his blood glucose was low (I think)(he is diabetic) and he could not get to his part of the house without help. Fortunately I was in our living room and was available to help him. At dinner several hours later, he admitted that he has not fully recovered from his "adventure".

Bill and I are doing our best to not take away any of Dad's feedoms, but it is getting to be more and more frustrating. (Dad did decide to not drive a car except to go to the local store that is very close. He only drives there when he needs the gas can filled, which isn't too often.) We talk with him one day about out concerns for his safety and we think he will at least use some common sense. Then he leaves home, forgetting to take his medicine, tries to pick beans, falls twice and goes to other parts of the neighborhood while his blood glucose is going down. It is getting very close for the roles to be totally reversed and I will become the parent of my elderly parents. At least Mom stays home and for the most part stays out of trouble. She is very forgetful and has trouble getting around, but we know where she is and for the most part what she is doing.

My advice to everyone is to think before you do something. Every action has a reaction. Some reactions are difficult when you are the one who has to make the decision to limit what actions someone else may take as they age. This is all so FRUSTRATING!

I have seen my friends and some relatives deal with one aging parent. Some parents live with the child only to be moved to another facility like a retirement home or assisted living. This usually happens when one or the other is unhappy. Others keep the parent in their home and have help come into the home. So far Bill and I are dealing with my parents by our self. I was working, but that has ended. We do get away once in a while, but this is rare now and for short periods of time.

Now I must get some sleep as another day will be starting soon.

Peggy

The party's over!

Yesterday was a long day on the road (678miles round trip), but for a good reason. Bill and I took my parents to my cousin, Shirley Jean and her husband Wayne's house for her mother's 90th birthday party. My Aunt Shirley looked good and seemed to enjoy the visitors for the day. We had an enjoyable time visiting with people we knew and didn't know. I had met everyone in the past, but I can honestly say I didn't remember several people.

It was a beautiful day for traveling considering how much rain has been falling in the mid-west. It was sad to see the corn fields in IL with ponds where the corn should be growing.

Just before we turned off the interstate in IL to go into IN we stopped to give our friend Beverly some fresh vegetables from our garden. It was so nice to see her again. I wished we could have stayed to visit with her, but due to the fact we were not yet at our destination we didn't stay with her too long.

Today Shirley Jean called with some bad news. My Uncle Orv in FL passed away today. It has been a few years since we saw him and my Aunt Alma, but we thought of both of them often.

Some of my memories of Uncle Orv include the first time I met him. He won me over instantly with his winning smile and the spark in his eyes. I also saw that my Aunt was again happy. When Aunt Alma and Orv married, during their middle years, Orv became and instant father to two grown children and a grand father also. He seemed to take great pleasure in that new job.

Orv would tell stories about going hunting or fishing with my cousin Larry. Some of these stories were funny, others were serious and some were sad, but the thing I saw as important was that Orv enjoyed being with Larry. Orv and Aunt Alma made the trip to the Atlanta area to visit Alma's daughter Linda and her family. Whenever we saw them Orv would talk as much about Linda's family as my Aunt Alma. He would talk with pride about both children as if they were his own.

I would say Uncle Orv never meet a stranger. He could carry on a conversation with anyone and usually found some common ground with that person. He was a great story teller, kidder and a total gentleman. He will be missed.

Here's a hug for you Uncle Orv, I will forever miss getting a hug from you and I am so glad you were a part of our family.

Love,
Peggy

Beans,beans and more beans

As all of you know who raise a garden when the vegetables are ready they must be taken care of at that moment. Not when one has the time to spend hours picking and canning, but right now. This year has been a good year so far for us being able to plant the garden, getting needed rain with out too much and the bugs have not been too bad. Right now we need rain for the tomatoes and corn that are just setting, but it is an abundant year for the green beans. So for the past few days and also today we have been picking, snapping, washing and canning green beans.

So far I have canned 35 pints and 4 quarts of beans. I think I may get another 6 or 7 pints once the pressure canner has cooled enough to do another batch.

We will have many more pickings of beans, but other then a few for table use I am finished with the beans. We have already started giving beans away. I wish my friend Beverly still lived close, because I would be sure we would get some to her. May need to think about this and do some talking to family about maybe taking some to her. We will be fairly close to her on Saturday celebrating my Aunt Shirley's 90th birthday.

Just think, I have an Aunt whom will be 90 years old soon. Only 2 of her sisters have already passed. That leaves 3 sisters and 4 brothers still alive. They all have some health problems, but to the best of my knowledge they are all still at home either being taken care of by their children or fully independant and on their own. Their father passed what I consider young at 63 or 64, but their mother lived a long active life as did their maternal grandfather.

I used to love to go visit my Great Grandfather McGraw. He lived in a tiny house in the front yard of his landlord's home. I remember the yard at least to me was large with lots of trees. It was a "long" trip. All of about 25 miles, but we were gone all day. He would make us a nice meal. As far as I am concerned he was famous for his meat loaf that had hard cooked eggs right down the middle of the loaf. He knew that I was intrigued with those eggs baked right in the loaf and kept it a secret from me about how he made it so it looked so perfect.

A few other things I remember about his house was he didn't have "running" water. Well actually he did, but it was by a hand pump at the kitchen sink. As I am sure you have figured out by now that also meant that he had an out house. I HATE OUT HOUSES! I am very sensative to smells. It doesn't matter if it is perfume that if overly applied or the "smell of money" as you travel the back roads and go by a farm too close to the road, but an out house is sometimes smelly, but in the summer too hot and enclosed. He knew I had this problem and would allow me to use his chair in the bedroom. The seat would lift up and there was a hole with a little champer pot below. I hope someone in the family still has that chair, because it was a life saver for me.

I also had another connection to my Great Grandpa. I was born the same month and year that he lost his wife, my Great Grandmother. She passed at the end of the month of March 1950 and I was born a week or two earlier.

The beans are now finished. A grand total of 41 1/2 pints and 4 quarts. Whew! Glad that is done. Now I can get some other work done.

Peggy

One Busy Day

This has been one busy day. We are in the process of installing a new, larger window air conditioner in the basement area. The problem is we don't have a window to just set it in like the instructions suggest. So we needed to enlarge the hole we had put into a wooden door that we used to fill in the space of one of the opened sliding glass door that leads to the "patio". Enlarging the hole was not a problem, but we didn't think about having to consider the shape changes from an open window to a flat square opening. We now have all that figured out, extra support in place, but were just too tired today to finish up the job. It is cool right now, so not having AC in not a problem. We know that shortly we will not only have heat, but more importantly we will have humidity. That in a nutshell is why we used some of the money I received from making a quilt and pattern for Quilting Treasures for a newer, larger AC. here is a picture of the quilt that will be a free pattern download in the near future at http://www.quiltingtreasure.com/. Look under projects. The last quilt I made for them is now also on their website. Look in More QT Products, then scroll down to the Paddington Counts Quilt Tin. They are selling the Tin with my pattern and fabric to make the same quilt.

While working on the quilt for Quilting Treasures I learned how to transfer large pattern pieces from my EQ6 program to a pdf file. I downloaded a free program pdf 995. I went to the block in EQ6 that I needed to have templates to use on the web or it could also be used for just printing. I then clicked file and click on printer set-up. I then changed the printer from my default printer to the pdf995 option. Close that window and again click on file and then print. The menu brought up options and I click on templates. At this point I checked and changed if needed the block size, seam allowance and line thickness. I then clicked on preview. In the preview area In I then deleted patterns I did not need and moved the rest so they were closer to the left. (This helped to keep the regular printer from printing pages not needed.) When I was happy with everything I clicked on print. The computer will then print the file to a pdf file that you can look at with a free adobe reader download. Fast, simple and easy. I know someday I will need to invest in another program that will allow editing of these pdf's, but for now this works.

I also received an interesting e-mail today with an opportunity to work a booth at a quilt show. The owner's of the booth would have it all set up and would take it down. They would pay $150.00 and 2 meals for each day worked at their booth. I am not able to work during the show due to other obligations at that time, but may in the future.

The garden is doing really well. We are already eating green onions, lettuce and spinach. The green beans are about ready to bloom, so it won't be long to canning season. The tomatoes are blooming a setting fruit. The corn is growing by leaps and bounds.

Tonight we had fresh blue gil filets for dinner. They were so good. Bill has gone to the lake to see if he can catch some more. We want to be sure we have enough fish froze to have plenty for winter.

Catch everyone on a less busy day.

Peggy

Enjoyable day

Today I was with my friend JoAnn. While at her house an electrician was also there finishing up some things that needed to be done on her new home. He and his helper were working in the craft room that we were in as well as other places in the house. She was not happy with the light on the ceiling fan and just explained to him what she wanted. They went to get some supplies and picked out a new light for the craft room. When they came back they showed us what they bought and we both said at the same time......that is perfect!



I was working on a quilt binding and JoAnn worked on a quilt she is making for her Granddaughter out of the GD childhood clothing. We kind of bounced some ideas off of each other about the quilt she was making and a quilt block I need to applique for a mutual friend. I confirmed that she could do what she wanted to do with her quilt and she helped me solidify my idea for the quilt block I need to make. She even had a pictures to help me with my idea. Now I just need to draw it and pick out the fabric to get it made.

Our kitten, Gordo, is growing my leaps and bounds. He is able to leap to places that gets him into trouble being there and he bounds under feet so he sometimes goes sailing across the floor. He is learning our rules, but sometimes I think he is very hard headed and must learn the hard way. So far Gordo has been a very good kitten. Thank goodness he doesn't whine like his namesake. He is still in the chewing stage, and I will be glad when that ends. All in all he has adjusted well.

Bill caught a good mess of fish. We ate them night before last. Unfortunately it took a few days to have enough to bring home. He again went fishing today, but didn't have enough to bring home. We still have plenty, but like to share with others. It has been tough fishing this year due to the cooler wetter then normal weather. I am not complaining, because I would rather have cool weather then the heat and humidity of the summer in this part of KY.

I will post a picture soon of a quilt that is almost finished.