Sewing Projects

It's been awhile since I've posted any sewing projects. I now have 3 more tops completed, ready to be added to the "finish me" pile.

This first one I bought as a kit last summer at Thimbles & Threads in Draper. It worked up really fast, it is just a panel print in the center with prairie points sewn to the first border, and then finished with a wide outer border.


This second one was also purchased as a kit. Terrell bought it for me last January when we went to the Road to California quilt show in Ontario. This is a birthday table topper. It was really fun to make, because it was just like sewing a puzzle together, and all the pieces fit perfectly. (Yea for me!) It has some iron-on applique on it, so I got to break in the blanket stitch on my new Bernina sewing machine.

I don't know if I will make it to "Road to California" in 2009. For the past two years it has coincided with the ISS (Imprinted Sportswear Show) which is held in Long Beach. Next year, the shows are on different weekends in January.

I am planning on going to the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show next July. This is held in Sisters, Oregon. When we went to Newport a year ago last summer, we drove thru Sisters. It is a beautiful little town nestled in the pines. I am excited to go back there for the quilt show. Grandma Ashcraft (my mom) has a request in to try to get a condo in the area. If that falls thru, I have already made reservations at a motel up there.

Last on today's show & tell is the quilt top I made a few weeks ago when Emilie and I took a class at Elaine's Quilt Block in Salt Lake. This is called "Topsy Turvy Snowman". The center snowman blocks are from from a panel that we cut apart. This fabric is from Moda's Christmas line for this year - called "It's Snowing!" I love this fabric. There were only three of us in the class that Saturday morning. We had a fun time, and got lots of individual attention from the instructor.

I'd like to make another quilt like this, using another panel that can be cut apart. Just so I can remember how to sew on all the topsy turvy borders.

The 1980's continued...

Those that have traveled with me over the years know that I have a tendency to lock my keys inside the car. When we went on the big family trip back to Indiana in 2000, I took an extra key that I gave to Cheryl. I needed to use it a couple of times and was awfully glad she had it in her purse. The next summer I had a couple more brainless moments. One in Boise, and the other in Montpelier. After the Montpelier incident, Cheryl had the locksmith make an extra key and she carried it in her purse whenever she traveled with me from then on.

Cheryl will have to tell me if she remembers the time in 1987 when we were shopping together in SLC and I locked my keys in my car at (I think) the ZCMI parking garage. We were lucky because the parking attendant came and was able to unlock the car for me.

The first three of today's cartoons are dedicated to those memories.


After that day in Salt Lake, Richard, who would have been 10 at the time, drew the following cartoon for me:


In 2002 there was a "Close to Home" comic that was nearly the same as Richard's:


How about the Mario Bros. theme song for that classic Nintendo game:


The Yellowstone fires of 1988. This was a sad time for me. I went to Yellowstone Park so many times in my growing-up years! When I think back to that summer of the fires, I remember sitting over on Sister Gardner's deck talking to her about the fires, and seeing haze from the fires in the air.

FACTS:
The summer of 1988 was the driest in the Park's recorded history.
More than 793,000 acres (36% of the park) were affected by fire.
Fires begun outside of the park burned more than half the total acreage.
Humans caused 9 fires; lightning caused 42 fires.
About 300 large mammals, primary elk, perished.
$120 million was spent and 25,000 people participated in this firefighting effort, the largest in U.S. history.
This huge effort saved human life and property, but had little impact on the fires themselves.
Rain and snow finally stopped the advance of the fires in September.




The last time I went to Yellowstone was 4-5 years ago. (Can't remember for sure, I just know it was when Brad was on his mission) I was so happy to be there again and see all the new trees.

Today's late 1980's fad is the suction cup stuffed animal.
Practically every car (except mine) had some sort of animal sticking to a window.


Today's last cartoon is for all of us over-worked, underpaid folk. Have you ever felt like this? I have.

Saturday nite, late o'clock

I'm sitting here in the kitchen kind of tending my juicer on the stove, which is full of apples. I know, I've put it off long enough. If I wait much longer, the boxes of apples out in the carport will have turned into a mushy frozen mess. I juiced all morning outside on the camp-chef, then turned it off when we went to SLC this afternoon. It's rather cold outside now, so I just brought the juicer contraption inside and set it on the stove to keep it going for another hour or so, then I will turn it off and that will be the end of today's juicing.

While I wait, I thought I would post this story I read yesterday. I really liked it, as it made me think about the simple gifts I can give to others.

The Gift of a Chicken Story
Posted November 5th, 2008 by Judith Costello
Our neighbor is 96 years old and she still goes for a walk several times each week. Very slowly she makes her way along the pasture fence between our properties. Then she turns around and goes home, carefully avoiding the ruts in the dirt road. I have gone out to greet her only occasionally.

A simple hello always means a commitment to thirty minutes, or more, of conversation. I know that’s not much in the larger scheme of things. And, it means so much to older people when you give them the gift of time. But these days life seems to be all a rush and time is a precious commodity. Often my husband reminds me that I’m not keeping up with everything I have committed to do. I get stingy.

That’s why I’m pleased to share what I’ve learned about another gift we can give each other. It’s the gift of Story. Yes, it takes time. But it’s fun too and it fuels the imagination. Here’s how I learned about it.

Last week, I saw Florene on her walk and knew it was way past time to say hello. It had been weeks since I’d seen her. She deserved a few minutes of chitchat. So I headed out the door. And sure enough she was happy to see me and eager to talk. We visited by the roadside and then I invited her to come and see the new horses in our yard. She’s a country lady through and through and had hinted that she was wondering about the new equines in the neighborhood.

While I was pointing out the names of the horses, one of our chickens came up to Florene. The hen, who was named Fred by the children, made a throaty cackling sound that tells me she’s happy and curious. Fred circled around Florene’s legs.

It had been years since Florene had spent time with chickens, she said. She bent down to pat Fred on her back and Fred squatted obediently to receive the touch. When Florene looked to me for understanding, I said, “That’s the first time I’ve seen her do that. These are new chickens and they normally avoid most humans. She really seems to trust you.”

Florene chuckled. “Well she’s an awfully cute chicken. I have always liked animals.”

A few minutes later we were walking down the road, and Florene’s daughter was coming out to see why her mother had disappeared.

“Laura dear, you’ll never believe what just happened,” Florene began. “A chicken came right up to me! Judith says she never does that with other people. But that chicken hunkered down to let me pet her. She is so soft and beautiful. You should go see her. It was just wonderful.”

I realized in that moment that the best gifts are so very simple. Maybe the best gift of all is a story. Florene has a new gem of a story about her friend the chicken. It will make her smile for many days. And it was such an easy gift to offer. All it took was to interpret what she saw. “That chicken runs from people…everyone but you. It must be that the small creature sees beyond wrinkles. Animals know things about people.” All of that came across to Florene.

So many times I have missed the opportunities to give gifts like that. Maybe it’s because I’m not paying attention, I’m rushing around or I’m simply unwilling to give. But I see now that my children need story affirmations like that. My husband needs story affirmations.

For example, our Blue Heeler only “talks” to my husband. It’s amazing to see as the dog sits before him and modulates her voice in conversation. They have regular talks. But it happens often enough that I have taken it for granted. Now I see that telling my husband the story of what I see occurring between him and the dog would be an affirmation, a gift.

I’m going to record the story of my son’s football year–it’s a story about coming into manhood. I want to share the story of my daughter amazing cake award so that she’ll see that all things are possible when you put forth effort.

There are so many stories. And I see now that this is a gift that goes beyond meaningless chitchat chewing up time. It is minutes spent in observing and sharing. It is an image that can be preserved and savored.

The 1980's

How appropriate - this was in yesterday's paper.
Just waiting for me to use it today.

At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted.

Shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown down or buried beneath volcanic deposits. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments.

Somewhere, I have a picture that I took of our old red Pontiac Sunbird, with a dusting of volcanic ash covering it. Amazing to think that the ash would travel clear to south-eastern Idaho.


In 1979 Bo Derek starred in the movie "10" She wore her hair in corn-row beads, and after that, corn-row beads became a fad in the early 80's:


Who didn't love the show "M*A*S*H? (who doesn't love the re-runs today?) I remember one time when it was possible to watch M*A*S*H about 4 different times on different stations during the afternoon & evening. It was my goal (one that I actually achieved and wrote about in my journal) to catch all the different episodes during the day. (When you grow up in Idaho, life gets pretty exciting.)


There were postage rate increases twice in 1981. The first on March 22nd, which raised the price of a stamp from 15 cents to 18 cents. Later that year on November 1st, the rate was raised again to 20 cents. Sounds really inexpensive compared to the price of a stamp today.




Today's fun comics:

Which reminds me of this picture I took of my lovely daughter,
back when she was Emilie Hill



Have a great weekend everybody!

DAM!

My family can tell some dam good stories of that day in June, 1976!

Caption read: If we listened to warnings from every environmentalist dingbat, we'd never get anything built.



The next two comics hail from 1977:


Remember when SLIME first hit the stores? It was the coolest stuff ever!


The cliche' "May the Force be with you" from Star Wars, became part of everyone's vocabulary.

If my ipod were to have a problem, this would probably be why:


I've read the following comic many, many times. It still cracks me up:

Remember the '70's?

Today I go back in time to the 1970's. It seems like yesterday to me, until I think how many times I've put up a Christmas tree since then. Anyway, my first cartoon is about President Gerald Ford. You may (or may not) remember that he was kinda a klutz. But he had a self-effacing humor and accepted all the ribbing the press gave him with good nature.


The next Frank & Ernest cartoon is actually from 1993, but it fits with today's story so I am including it with my other 1970's cartons:


Next, a couple of fads from the 70's. First, think back to Elton John in 1975. He was a tad more flamboyant than he is today. His trademark? Strange gem-encrusted eye glasses:


One other thing that everyone had as a fashion accessory in 1976 was the "mood ring" (excuse the flood mud on several of today's comics)


I loved each and every day of 1976. It was America's Bicentennial year, and it was like celebrating the 4th of July for 365 days!


I think will end each post with a comic that just makes me laugh. Today - a Peanuts cartoon from 1999:

How do you cut your sandwiches? I cut mine on the diagonal like Marcie...

How many of you know that I save comics from the newspaper? Comics that I find funny, introspective, comics that I can relate to, or that relate to current events/fads. If you were to walk into my kitchen on any given day, there would most likely be a comic cut out from the newspaper and pinned to the front of the refrigerator. When I take it down, I have a scrap book that it goes into. I have been a newspaper comic saver since 1975. (The pre-June of 1976 comics are complete with flood mud!) In the coming days, I am going to scan some of these comics, and post them to my blog. It will be a blast from the past. Some of you will be too young to remember, but it will still be fun.

These first two comics are from 1992:



This one is from February of 1999:


Here's one that has nothing to do with elections - it is one of those comics that I can just relate to: (or should I say Terrell & Kimball can relate to?) This one is from 1996: