A Quiet Saturday

Today, I spent most of the day working on a dress for Kameren. I also baked two pumpkin pies and an apple pie. Mary is having her "Giving Thanks" dinner tomorrow and I am bringing pie. Tonight Austin will be here so I can give him his quilt. I sure hope he likes it. Hubby is making a pot roast for dinner and the house smells just wonderful. The moving van with Sandi and Jerry left about noon.

Farewell dinner

Tonight we took Sandi and Jerry out to dinner. The moving van comes tomorrow morning. Sandi was upset because her cat, Tiger, got out while they were going in and out. Even though it is cold and raining he hasn't come home yet. We promised that if he does come home after they are gone we will take care of him until we can get him to them. Jerry travels a lot with his job and so Tiger is a lot of company for Sandi. Cats who like to get outside even when they are not outside cats can be a pain in the butt.

Book Club

Today my book club met. The club is made up of 8 women I have known a long time. The shortest being 20 years and the longest being 54 years. We choose a book and then meet on the fourth Thursday of the month. We rarely discuss the book but we talk for several hours. Good friends are real treasures. Unfortunately one of the group, Sandi, is moving to Charlotte, North Carolina on Saturday. We will miss her a lot.

The Dollar Tree

I made my tote bags to fill for the Haven ( a program for abused women and children). Today Mom and I went to the Dollar Tree to buy stuff to fill them. We had a ball. We bought toothpaste and kid toothbrushes, sudoku books, shampoo and conditioner, hand sanitizer, hats and mittens, paddle ball games, a flashlight, hairbands, glow sticks, puzzles, nail polish and manicure set, sewing kits... When I was done I had trouble getting the bags to close. I felt that some woman, young boy, and young girl might enjoy these bags but not half as much as I did finding the stuff to fill them.

Moratorium on Buying Needlework Kits

I decided I cannot buy anymore needlework kits until I finish the ones I have. Understand that I am a finisher. I know people who start lots of kits or anything and never finish them, but that's not my style. I have one kit I never finished because when we moved 32 years ago I lost the directions. Anyway I figured it will take me 14 years to finish the kits that I have. That will make me 80 years old and then I can buy some more.

Pillowcases

When I was younger, at my parents home, as soon as Santa arrived there was a mad scramble and everyone opened all of their presents. There was always the feeling "is this all?'' But at my Ex's home it was different. Beginning with the youngest each person chose a gift, not his own, to be opened. Everyone saw what that person received. In a large family like ours, especially now that there are spouses and grandchildren. This can be a long process. In fact by the end no one says,"Is this all?" in fact even the kids reach a point where they don't care if there are any more presents. I decided three years ago that instead of wrapping all the presents I would go green and make each person a pillowcase(couples have matching) and I would put all of their presents from me in it. It has been a real hit. The kids use the pillowcase as a sack to carry all their treasures home.
Now you wouldn't think a pillowcase would be that hard to make but I have made every error possible. Starting with making the line for the piping in the wrong direction on the material(a narrow long pillowcase) Attaching the piping to the wrong side of the material,(who wants piping inside the case) starting the French seam with right sides together and of course having the machine on baste when I want sew. I have 19 pillowcases to make. I have to get at least two a day before we leave on our cruise because when we come back Christmas will be upon us. I wonder if this was such a great idea.

Sunday Shopping

I told Hubby that I was going to run to Joann and Target today.(I really just wanted to get out of the house) He said that it didn't make sense to go shopping on Sunday when we are retired and the stores are so crowded on weekends. I didn't take him too seriously. I should have. At Joann's I took a number "58" when they were serving "32". The number was in the high nineties when I finished. I did get a cute blouse from Target to wear on my cruise so it wasn't a total loss.

Quilt Club Night

Last night I went to the monthly meeting of our Cameo Quilt Guild. There are 78 members in the club. It is a non-profit club because each member is required to make something and donate it to charity. I am on the charity committee(Everyone is also obligated to be on one committee).
They are making tote bags out of upholstery samples and they fill them with gifts for young boys and girls and women who go to the Haven for abused women. They also for their activity had two demonstrations, one of a rag type tote and the other a crazy quilt Christmas tree skirt. I am not much interested in the rag type work.(You show the seams and repeatedly wash them so they fray) I have too many frayed edges as it is. But the crazy quilt stuff was beautiful. I should live long enough to try all the things I want to do. The meeting ends with a show and tell segment which is enough to totally intimidate me.

Clase de Espanol

Esta Noche fuimos a nuestra clase de espanol. We are learning the preterit tense and doing some reading in Spanish. It is quite challenging for us. We have a text book, a reader and our Rosetta Stone software but I think it would take eight hours a day studying Spanish, seven days a week before we could even hope to become proficient. We found that we can understand most of Jakers and Go, Diego, Go on the Saturday cartoons in Spanish. Dora is harder to understand because she talks in a high squeaky voice. Sabado Gigante is way too fast for us.

The Fun in Funerals

I know that funerals are sad occasions and we are going to miss the deceased a lot, but there is a fun side too. We meet people we haven't seen in a long time, probably since the last funeral. There is a lot of "Remember when.." And it is always surprising to see "little kids" who now have children of their own. Today was one of those funerals. The deceased had been a neighbor when I was growing up and we have kept in touch for over 50 years.

Frustration

Last Christmas I got a new sewing machine. It has been almost a year and I am most unhappy with this machine. I intend to take it in tomorrow and tell them, it's noisy, the thread breaks much too often, and it acts like I am sewing canvas when I am sewing a light weight corduroy. I sew an awful lot and to go without my machine for a day or two is hard on me. The machine is a Janome.
Saw a new bird again today, a red bellied woodpecker. He is quite large and likes peanuts. The other day we saw a tufted titmouse for the first time.

Snowflakes

Thank goodness not real ones. When I was in Baltimore last January, Amy lent me her crochet book on making snowflakes. I have made 19 of them. I mostly do it when visiting or in the car. The car doesn't work too well because I have to watch too closely as I am an amature crocheter. Anyway I started starching them to hang on the Christmas tree. Last year I bought blue lights and blue ornaments and put white origami airplanes on the tree. It was not a resounding success. Since I bought all the blue stuff I thought I would put snowflakes on this year.

Sammy's Stocking is Finished

I finished Sammy's Stocking. We have 22 stockings hung from the mantel. Hubby says he is afraid the mantel might fall from having so many holes in it for hooks. Today at our bird feeder we saw a tufted titmouse. Not hard to identify because it was all gray with a white breast and a little gray crest.

Flu Shot

Today I went to our local Kroger store and got my flu shot. I get one every year and haven't ever caught the flu so I guess I'll never know if it works or if I wouldn't have caught the flu anyway.
Today the hinge on the kitchen cupboard turntable door broke. Hubby say it will probably be expensive to replace because it looks a little complicated and the make on the hinge is "Ferari."

Facebook

The kids all use facebook so I decided to try it. I am not a regular user. It surprises me the comments,"I'm going to bed." or "I'm hungry." I have found it an interesting way to find my former piano students. I have so far found six of them. Some of my students had very common names so they are difficult to find, like Steele, or Bush. It is a good way to show pictures of happenings between family members though.

Austin's quilt

Well, I finished Austin's quilt. I have made over 40 quilts and have given away all but 5. There is something special about making a quilt and giving it away. It makes it special for a much longer time. I only give them to friends (including my children) who I want to keep in touch with forever. Austin loves cats and has two of his own. I bought the pattern at Joann's and it is called "Sawtooth Cats" by The City Stitcher.

Here is a picture of my latest grandchild, Samuel Ravi Injety Uicker. He is all of 1 month old. We call him Sammy. He was born on his grandfather, Sam's birthday.

Fall is Here

On the way to church this morning I noticed a lot of the leaves have started to change color. On the thistle bird feeder, I noticed that all the goldfinches have changed to their winter colors. We even turned the furnace on a few nights ago and I got the quilt out for our bed. ( I store all my quilts on the guest bed during the summer so they don't wear in the folds) . I haven't got my winter coat out yet but Martha needed hers when she was working on the night shift constructing the eight mile bridge. The church had it's Oktoberfest this weekend. Unfortunately they had a lot of rain but this afternoon we will go over for a brat and beer.

Sammy's Stocking

At Christmas time I hang up Christmas stockings for Hubby and myself, my mother and all seven children their spouses and grandchildren. The stockings have all been embroidered with our names on them. Since Sammy was born on August 25th I am busy making him his stocking. The stockings are a quilted fabric with an Aida cloth top made by Charles Crafts. Unfortunately several years ago they quit making them so I called the factory and bought their 13 remaining stockings. If you go back to my posting in December 2008 you can see pictures of the other stockings I have made.

Mr Wizard

Hubby has decided to explain to our grandson, Keegan, how computer programming works. He made a video explaining the different number systems as a start and is working on another giving the history of computers. I was given the job of looking over his script. He mailed the first DVD out although he had some minor problems with Arnold walking in front of the camera and lying down on his notes. Hubby is really into scientific videos especially after his success with the caterpillar and butterfly videos.

October

I was going through my list of favorite blogs and finding that no one had blogged. So disappointing. Then I got to Kittalog. She said that since it was National Blog Month she was going to blog every day. What a bonus. I love reading her blog. I think I will try to blog every day this month as well. I could use a more interesting life. Right now I am finishing the quilt for Austin. Hubby and I are taking a Spanish Class and working with the Rosetta Stone. We both are Master Gardeners ( although the garden is pretty much done for the year). We are also member of the Lion's Club.