Aprons

To my family, I am a person with many aprons, yes, aprons.  I wear them almost always when I am cooking and also when I am baking.  I enjoy making pies and breads and seem to get lots of flour everywhere.  I have a great time and my aprons show it.  I have about eight hanging on a large hook in my kitchen pantry.  I also have two hanging on a nice hook in my "glamper" so I can have them while cooking, even over a camp fire.  

Recently I pulled them all out and washed and hung them on the outside line to dry.  They looked so pretty that I took some photos and will try to download one on this post.  As I am not that knowledgeable about the process, I will tell you that I will try.

Today I had the wonderful privilege of spending the day with my 12 year old granddaughter and her mother, my wonderful daughter in love, Kathy.  Kathy had asked me to come help Alorah sew an apron for her Project Fair sewing project.  She has made many wonderful things, but Kathy felt that in my helping Alorah sew this apron, we would also make memories.  And, I must say we did.  We had some great conversation, and laughed and even had lunch together along with her mother and brother. 

Alorah, soon to be 13, still likes Grandma time, and I feel blessed.  The memories we made today will stay with me always.  I will enjoy seeing her wear her apron.  I even got a few scraps of the fabric to put into my next crazy quilt.  As I had just made a really nice full apron, I wore it to visit them.  This helped me with earning my badge on aprons with Mary Jane Farms Sisterhood.  It also was fun to do.  I also wore this apron to my knitting circle to show it off as it is so very special.  The print is "aprons" and I purchased this print from our local famous quilting shop in Hannibal, Missouri.  It is called "Hickory Stick" and has been featured in quilting magazines.  I did note that they had similar fabric at Hobby Lobby, so check it out and have fun making your own apron.  Really, they are fun and fancy, and very useful.

Is It Easy Being Green?

Today, April 15, may not be a great day for those who procrastinated on getting their taxes done.  I am sorry for you.  As I had mine done early, not because I get a great refund, actually no refund, because we pay quarterly as farmers/business.  Anyway, is it easy being green when it comes to taxes (money), maybe not.  Kermit the Frog says it is not easy being green.  As I was walking my Daisy Mae Foxhound today I was wondering how easy it is for the grass, shrubs and trees to be green.  They do it every year, and I, for one, am so very thankful.  Even my strawberries are green and wonderful looking.  Actually, they are blooming.  My rhubarb has had one picking as of today.  The lawn has been mowed three times.   I am sure these plants go through lots of transformation to become green again.  I am so thankful.

Today I took out of the freezer my last package of homegrown strawberries.  Yes, from the patch mentioned above.  I also pulled some of the first rhubarb for the season.  I have two large plants and they are now five years old.  I was told the first three years not to use them.  It was so hard as they looked so nice.  I am glad that I did as told, as now, well, they look even nicer.  At this moment I have two strawberry/rhubarb pies in the oven.  One will be for us and one will go to our neighbors from South Africa.  Actually I am not sure if they have rhubarb there, so it will be something different for them to try.  Jonika makes us traditional things from South Africa, which is interesting for us to try also.  

Is it easy being green?  Even if it is not.  Thank you trees, shrubs, plants, even wildflowers.  We are blessed with green.  Spring time is grand, even if you have to pay your taxes today because you waited until the deadline!

Out and About

Spring in rural Northeast Missouri is a time of change as it is in many parts of our wonderful country.  For us, it can be cool one day and actually hot the next.  It may say it is going to rain and be bright and sunny all day.  We need the rain very much, but we also enjoy the sunshine.  It helps with the spring fever.

Spring fever.....well, for city people, it may be a stroll to the park, but for this country person, it is work, and hard but rewarding and refreshing work.  I have flower beds to clean out and then put out all the wonderful adds to my beds, like birdbaths and wind chimes and even ceramic birdhouses.  I enjoy some ceramic poppies on long metal stems which an artist friend made for me.  They are bright red, yellow and blue, and until the real things bloom, they cheer me.

My hot box is planted with many kinds of veggies and each time I head to water it I am waiting to see the first sprouts.  Yes, I do a little happy dance when I see them.  It means the seeds germinated and plants will grow if I tend to them.  I should even have plants to share with others.

As I grocery shop, I cannot help but stop to pick up a few pounds of potato sprouts for planting and some onion sets maybe.  I also found a wonderful new daisy plant this year called an Osteospermum or South African Daisy.  It is just so wonderful so I have plants to get another this week when in town.  You see our town is 15 miles away and I really only try to head that way on Tuesdays and Thursdays and of course Sunday for church.  

On Tuesday I go to the Y for yoga (wonderful) and swimming laps, a hit to the hot tub, shower, do the library run, and visit friends at the quilt shop before heading to the famous Java Jive coffee shop in downtown Hannibal, Missouri, where my knitting circle meets.  We have lunch, knit and talk and talk and talk.  Afterwards I may go visit another friend or run an errand.  

On Thursday it is a repeat at the Y and then I usually do errands such as grocery shopping.  I may hit our church thrift store mostly to visit with my friends, but sometimes find wonderful things for my stash for crazy quilts.  However, I don't look long because I so enjoy living in my country home that I want to get back, take my Daisy Mae Foxhound for a walk.  Yes I go for a walk with her on days I am at home, maybe several walks to total about 4 miles.  But on my Y days I still take her for a walk of maybe a mile.  It is about the quiet and the time outdoors with my best friend forever.....Daisy Mae, my dear dog.

Large and Small Plans

Country Katie and Daisy Mae are again looking forward to "glamping".  We have spent some time sitting in our camper.  I measured windows and have fabric (nice white fresh lacey) for new curtains.  I must sit now and sew them.  This will be especially fun on my new sewing machine. 

We also cleaned out my hot box and have some seeds ready to plant in the next day or so.  I do enjoy growing tomato and pepper plants for my garden spots.  As I have walked my Daisy Dog, I check under the straw that covers my strawberries and my rhubarb and asparagus.  Soon I will be removing it and watching the sprouting and growing....just imagining the taste of fresh produce.

Other plans include another quilt which I just purchased fabric for today.  It will be done in a brick style and the fabric is all nice floral prints and the finished product, though a very old and simple style of quilt, should look elegant.  I have a quilt in my camper done in the brick design, but what is so special about it is that it was made many years ago from all flour sacks.  The days years ago when I was young, I recall my grandfather going to the mill for my family and purchasing flour, in calico cotton fabric.  My mother would always suggest that he try to get several bags with the same print so she could sew me a dress.  I was so proud of those pieces of clothing, but when I told friends as school, my mother was offended, thinking people would think we were "poor".  However, may of the children had the same type of clothing.

My biggest 2015 plan is a trip to Europe, actually to France and I may spend a few days in London before heading home. I won't go until in the fall, but have started collecting some things I will need, such as today, a purchase of a universal charger....for my phone and camera chargers.  It was exciting to purchase.  I purchase another chip for my camera so I have a nice new one for all the photos I will be taking.  As my family is from France, I have plans to visit the Alsace/Lorraine area for a few days, some days in Paris, of course, and a trip down to Nice, and Provence area.  I will head back to Paris and then to Normandy for a day trip.  Back in Paris I will either fly back to the states or go by train through the underwater tunnel in the English Channel and spend a few days in London and fly to the states from there.  

It will be fun to gradually get things ready for this.  As I wear and look at my clothing, I could think of purchases I could make, but I have nice clothing, so will just play with my clothing and make outfits I believe I could wear to the Louvre or Notre Dame , etc.  I think I have some things that are nice enough to meet the Mona Lisa.  This country woman is not "that shabby" because, after all, like I said, I am French.   Okay, my friends and neighbors are mostly not too shabby either.  We country women know how to act and dress when we get "out there".

Quilter's Dream

This winter day I chose to share my recent dream with my fellow country women, or country women at heart, who also have retired, and have retired husbands.  All husbands are not the same, which is very good.  My husband and I have been married for almost 22 years now, marrying at ages 45 and 48.  Anyway, most marriages have issues, maybe of severe nature (hoping yours is not that way), but smaller ones, like mine, of listening and answering.  It amazes me the hearing and responding qualities that come into play in marriages/relationship of many years, even 22.

So on to my "crazy dream", which also includes crazy quilts because I am a quilter.  Also, I just finished a wonderful crazy quilt with old ties, and other silk and velvet fabrics, with many embellishments, which make it such a great piece.  Onto the dream....

I woke actually laughing a bit at my wild and wonderous dream the other night, which brought in the frustration I had had with my husband all week about his communication.  (Well, it was frustrating this week, but has existed for a long long time).  I had also finished my wonderful last quilting project, a crazy quilt.  My dream was that I walked into the kitchen and , whoosh, in front of me flew a crazy quilt and plastered itself on the side of the refrigerator.  This was shocking, a little bit of a fright, but also interesting to me as I like adventure.  Then another came past me and another.  Crazy quilts, but crazy quilt ghosts, wow!  The ghosts of my recent crazy quilt pieces I thought for one brief moment.  I had purchased old ties, etc. for piecing this quilt and as I had sewn it, I did wonder what their stories were.  So I called to my husband who was in the study at the other end of our house.  "Roy, come see this".....and the response...."What!"   More movements of crazy quilt ghosts.  I called again, "Roy....and before saying any more the answer is...."Why".   Finally some crazy quilt ghosts swished right up next to me and I screamed a bit....and before speaking....response from Roy was ...."Okay, just a minute!"  At this point in my dream the crazy quilt ghosts became my friends and I actually say them smiling at me.  My thought was, oh, how wonderful my quilt and knitting projects are to me, and it is okay to talk to the pieces and have some wonder about where they have been.  Even in doing a new fabric quilt, like I am doing now, I can have conversation with myself and the "ghosts to come" from my black and white quilt, my English Paper Piecing quilt, and my embroidered teapot quilt, all of which I am working on currently.

And for Roy....well, I just don't think at age almost 70, I should plan to get any other types of answers.  If I was in real danger, I do have my Daisy Mae Foxhound.

Winter Sicknesses

Winter brings many ups and downs in the weather and it all seems to bother our health.  I have asthma and I know if I get a cold, it just makes my life harder.  With that said, I also have family and friends that often think it completely okay to stop and visit me when they are sick.  I just don't know what it is in the thought process.  They know to stay away from others, not go to classes, lessons, even the YMCA if they are sick.  But when it comes to me, it seems they think I am always okay so it will be okay.

I stay pretty healthy.  I also work at staying pretty healthy.  I exercise often.  I walk my Daisy Mae Foxhound several times a day in the great country air.  I go to the YMCA and swim laps and do yoga.  I do all of this because I want to be healthy. I clean and wash and take care to rid our home and my body of germs.  This does not mean I am having a phobia about it.  I want to be well.

With all that said, I just don't understand why people actually get upset and even rude when I tell them to not visit, or I cannot have you come stay the night if you are sick.  They try to even make me feel guilty about it.  For just a little while I did feel guilty when I would not have a family member come for a few nights when their other family went on a trip.  But really, they were sick, or said they were.  They could not go to the YMCA with me because they were sick, but thought I should also stay home with them.  Now really, that is not what my retired life is about.  It also is not what my healthy life is about.  If they are too sick to go other places, they are too sick to come stay with me.

In writing all of this, I am just wondering if it is the people in my life that just don't get it.  Maybe you have the same problem in your life.  Hopefully not, but if you do, please don't even for one minute take on guilt because you say no to people when they are sick.  It is important for each on of us to know our health and our body and our desires for staying healthy.  I know that if I get congested, I get worse then lots of people and even end up in the hospital.  I take pride in the fact that I have not been in the hospital for four years now, with bronchial stuff.  I know that it is because I am saying no.  I know it is because I am putting my health first before doing favors for others, or letting them slide on coming and coughing, sneezing, and making my house contagious.  

Still, a part of me says, well, maybe I should care more!  I care that they are sick, but stay home and get well, which will help both of us, and the world around us.

Heated Discussion ......

With my sewing machine.   Yes, the discussion was with my "not so great", well, cheap sewing machine which I battled with for years, well, about eight years.  That really is not long when I realize how long I had had my first and second machines before getting this one.  However, this machine was purchased after others quit and were old, and my thinking was.....I am working so much and must prioritize my off time, so I really don't need to spend too much on a machine.  Well, that "too busy" thinking got me into trouble, and for eight years.

Each time I wanted to sew, I had to work on the machine, it's bobbin issues, and it's timing issues.  I had to limit myself to what I sewed because it just was not up to the task.  No more coats, but also quilts with bats were hard for it also. Even making some thin quilted seat cushions for my vintage wicker lawn chairs which I use for "glamping"  was a major problem.  I fussed much, but got it done....after all, "glamping" is this retired person's priority now also.

However, after retiring, another priority was to sew again.  I wanted to make some quilted bags, some table runners, and of course, some quilts.  I wanted to learn more and do more.  I wanted to not have to spend half of the time I had allotted to sewing in a fight with my machine to make it work.

Friends showed me their machines and shared knowledge of other machines in case I was going to purchase a new one.  Well, why would I do that I told myself.  I have a machine and need to save my funds for some trips I wanted to go on this year and maybe in the next few years.  After all, you can't do everything financially, but must prioritize that area of your life also.  You can see that I have issues with OCD, right.

Anyway, this Monday was the last draw for my machine.  I had a really neat apron cut out and ready to sew.  I had plans for some new potholders which I was going to do simple quilting on, and I also have a crazy quilt that I have worked on, only to finish a small amount due to my machine giving me so much grief when I last worked on it.  My day or days were planned.  I thought that I had things cleared up for a while at least with my machine.  But I was wrong.  Okay, I can be wrong some times....really lots of times.   Thinking about the machine I chose some eight years ago.

So I had my day ready, my plans set, and my machine out and supplies all around.  I was excited.  I sewed some on the apron, only to start getting frustrated with machine troubles.  Finally after working on this simple one hour project for about two hours, and I must say, not acting like the "fine Christian woman that I am", and saying that I was glad my husband was in the study with ear buds in, studying something on YouTube,  well, with all that said....I had had it with my machine.  

A strange thing came over my mind I could say, or I lost it, but really none of that happened.  I felt quite sane and quite free to unplug my machine, take the nice spoon of thread from its location on the machine, pick up my machine, walk out the front door, and head to the pond.   Yes, the pond, and smiling and then laughing out loud about the whole thing.  You may think that any sane person would have stopped after a good laugh  Not me and I am sane, maybe more sane now.  I took that machine to the edge of my pond and gave it a great and strong yoga arm toss into the pond.  I was thinking that it would smash through the thin ice and sink to the bottom, never to have to be looked at again.    Another choice I was wrong about.  The ice was thicker then I thought and that machine took a great thud, and pieces broke off, and then it skid.  Yes, it skid like a great bowling ball, accept it was my awful sewing machine.  There it sat, in the middle of the pond, on top of the ice.  

I still had some great laughs and laughed and laughed and laughed which felt refreshing.  When telling my son this story, he said, "Oh Mom, I have not heard you laugh like that for a long time, so it is all good".  Anyway, I marched into the house, relieved and ready for the rest of the day....not sewing, of course.  

My husband asked me what I was up to.  I was laughing and laughing.  Then I told him what he had missed.  He just looked at me and said, "Well, this is a strange behavior for someone who plans and organizes and prioritizes things.  Did you do all that before throwing your machine in the pond?"  The answer is no.  I just got rid of a problem of eight years that was never getting better and that I needed to get rid of to be free of the anger and poor attitude and actions due to it's malfunctioning.  

But there the machine sat on the pond and my husband was concerned that people would think strange things about us.  He let it there for a day or so and then when it did not warm up enough for it to sink through the ice, he took his heavy fishing pool and fished for it and hooked it, dragging it to the shore and putting it in the trash.  He did tell me that he thought he would put it back on my sewing table with a sign...."I'm back", but he did not do that.  It also would have been funny.  However, I already have a great quilting machine already sitting on my sewing table.  I just have to learn how to use it.  But I am believing great things and know it will work for me for many years.    

And, no the old machine is not back as the garbage man came today.  I still laugh when I think or talk about it....so readers, thank you for allowing me to laugh yet one more time.   Now I must get off and go read and learn how to thread my machine and also the bobbin.  I am excited about it.  And my granddaughter, who wants to learn to quilt. .......well, she can come and do so with me now that I have a machine that will do the job.