Friday, July 29, 2011

And, We're Off ~




Lydia and Jeff are minding the house.

Larry and I, Beth and Jerry are starting our road trip!



selecting music cd's before we go

I do not even know if I'll get to check email, or post
or read blogs Yikes! See ya'll sometime in August ~


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Monday, July 25, 2011

A Bit of Progress




Hi! We have been doing a number of projects, and a couple have gotten completed. Larry and I worked on the floor (look, Papa, not too bad!)



but we had to take a few boards to other folks to trim the ones that weren't full widths, because we don't own a table saw.



It worked out, but the floor just couldn't get finished in one day....
Today we have been working on the cabinets: purchasing, painting, and our friend Richard is installing and building the countertop.



I went with what was available, a Formica brand, but it had to be custom done because it will have extra depth than an ordinary kitchen cabinet.

I had to go to court Friday, umm...one of those lovely cameras on the corners of certain intersections took my picture for not coming to a complete stop. Yes, I'm ashamed to say, I'm not very "pokey" when I'm driving. This is only my second ticket in 30+ years of driving, but you cannot believe the price of that ticket, people! I pleaded "no contest" and asked for consideration, that being I received said ticket 6 months after it being issued (during the time Larry was in the hospital), and the judge knocked off some cost. Are you ready? I still had to pay $450, AND whatever the traffic school will cost. That Comedy Traffic teacher better be pretty funny!

Saturday, we drove up to Bakersfield to be with dear friends from our past. They had to bury their beloved daughter, a 35 year old momma of 4, a childhood playmate of my daughter. Her Daddy was saying how hard it was to stand at the graveside, knowing he would be walking away and leaving her physical body there six feet under. We'll see her again, we praise God for His promise of that...still...hard.


Dad and Mom, and the "kids"-Ginger, Wayne, Larry and Preston

We also received some sad news, which is leading to a trip to Nebraska. My sweet MIL Barb is having a recurring bout with cancer. She and Dad have agreed to not suffer through radiation/chemo treatments. She says she's feeling great right now, just going on with life as it comes.



She has been such an inspiration to me personally, spiritually and in my sewing and quilting. Actually, she was my home economics teacher my senior year in our private Christian high school eons ago.



I already was an accomplished seamstress, and I ended up assisting the new sewing students. I remember at that time in her life, she was sewing EVERYTHING she wore EXCEPT her pantyhose, no kidding, she had even sewn her shoes. She's amazing. I'm glad for the opportunity here before school to be able to go back to Nebraska. Larry and I will be travelling with our friends Beth and Jerry, for moral support and good company.



I've sewn a gown for the trip (no, I'm not modeling it!),


and the stack of Storm at Sea units has grown.




There is this little stack of nine patches, civil war style prints. Lydia wanted to know why I was sewing with such ugly prints. I said I've always liked era quilts, and was trying to do a "brown quilt". If you've never heard me say this before, I love Debbie Mumm, but usually end up with something more Mary Englebreit, lol. Lydia comes by her love of color in her genes, *vbs*! But, I'm hoping this stays a good brown quilt. :-}



And, the red charm squares arrived from Karen, and they are super!



Not a bad piece in the bunch, either! Thank you, Karen and all the 125 participants. I LOVE them ALL!





"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy;
at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11

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Friday, July 15, 2011

"But, First..."


My demo tools of choice...wonderwoman!


We are backing up, instead of going forward in our sewing room...what can I say? I wanted to put built-in cabinets in the old closet area.


See the wall after we removed the newly painted (but now trash) baseboards...
uh, right...the new baseboard will be taller...hopefully


The carpet was not an ideal color, brown green...(I'm not a carpet person anyway) and to have it in a sewing-with-needles-and-pins room is just courting disaster in someone's foot.


Our friend Richard is filling the divots in the concrete left from the tack strips.

Larry sent me shopping for flooring, and meanwhile, the baseboards, and carpet, and padding, and carpet tack strips had to be removed, and handygal Pokey has been involved with every process, including hauling it out of the house. And hauling other stuff back in!



I'm so slow (ha! I bet you didn't know that?!?); it's taken a bit of time. Next up, the flooring! Larry's doing that, I'm the go getter mostly, lol.



The newly patched floor, and my floor of choice is a closeout laminate
that has a hand-scraped texture, Armstrong brand.



"Oh, no! My displaced fabric is in the computer room!"


DD Lydia is in the process of putting their wedding photos into a shutterfly book, and it's coming along much better than the sewing room. I've helped with some photo editing. I thought I'd close showing a few of those pics ~


Lydia made her flowers, boutonnieres and bouquets
from lace, felt, buttons and ribbon. Oh, and love ~



So sweet! And see the little lego light saber on his boutonniere ~ !




Me, Grandma Barb, Lydia, Jeff, Larry and Grandpa Gil Davis

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Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Sewing Machines

A small but beautiful hand crank sewing machine



I've saved this post to share today. Last week, I went with two friends from the Monday night quilting class to Anaheim.



I've mentioned M&L Fabrics before, and of course we went there.



A person could get into trouble in here, if she didn't have a plan! I was basically purchasing background prints, so it was all good.







We did lunch too. But I was wanting to share about sewing machines.


Mr. Lloyd Askew

There is a man that has a love for them, and we went to see his featherweights in particular.
Meet Mr. Lloyd Askew. He loves sewing machines. He has repaired and rebuilt them for 20 years, and it started as a side job or hobby.


~ I was viewing history on these shelves ~

I thought I loved sewing machines...until I met him. This is what greeted us in his garage.



Lloyd servicing my friend Lety's machine.

For those of you who don't know, years ago in 1933 Singer Sewing Machine Company put out a wondreful little doll-like machine that was portable, lighter weight than most machines of the day. It was well built and had a true but simple straight stitch. It seemed to lose favor in the 1960's-70's when most seamstresses wanted the zigzag or other fancy stitches. I'm one of them, growing up I sewed mostly on a Kenmore. But, these little machines still hold a charm to us girls who love fabric. He has so much more than featherweights, though....


I told him I'd love to share his collection.


~ mother of pearl inlay ~



hand painted, not decals


a couple hand cranked machines...



He smiled and said sure!


I think he said this one was from 1858 ~





~what's not to love about these child's versions?



a child's machine~ The first time I ever saw an Elna, I was in my 20's. My friend Patty Bullock was sewing on it, and it was green like this mini one-!


His collection of machines literally would rival a museum...




"AMERICAN" ~ don't you love it?


Or this one, that's me!
American Girl, a child's machine. No bobbin, this one does a chain stitch ~

Oh, you know what else? He has them all sewing, in working order. I was amazed at the beauty of them.

While we were there, I was shopping, too. My birthday is Sunday, 7/17. This little one is older than I am (not by much, though!),

and thanks to my sweet Larry, it came home with me. *VBG*


Now, I guess I'd better go sew a bit!
Happy Quilting ~

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