Ahh . . . Vacation!

Bruder Bear and Karen had been asking Ann and family to come for a visit as it had been quite a while since they'd been down.  They worked out a time and we were glad to be able to join them for our annual trip to the Bruder Bear Resort.  Ann and family went to Jackson Hole first and would join us Sunday evening, but Dan and I drove down on Friday, arriving about nine.  A major remodel has been in progress at BB's, and we spent our first minutes seeing what had been done and being amazed at the transformation.  Karen is a fabulous cook and she now has a beautiful kitchen worthy of her efforts.  The rest of the evening was spent in a wonderful visit, catching up with one another.   

Dan and John spent much of Saturday working on one of the jet skis and the jet boat.  Both turned out to be fairly easy fixes--a stick in the intake of the jet boat and a new spark plug needed for the jet ski.  Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a boat trip up the Snake River to the dam, arriving back in time to welcome Ann, Eric, Cameron, Keaton and Daniel.  Sunday was also Dan's birthday, so dinner that night was barbecued ribs with all the trimmings courtesy of Karen and a Poor Man's Cake I had baked earlier that day.  It was a splendid birthday party! We were just sorry John had to fly to Nashville early the next morning.

The jet skis were, of course a hit with everyone. (Except me--they look like fun but there's no way I'm going on a rocking and rolling machine with my balance issues.  I was doing good to get on the boat although I was fine once I was on.  The getting on?  Not so cute.)  Cameron was soon zipping all over, Keaton was content to drive as long as someone rode with him, and Daniel was up for riding with anyone who would take him!  I forgot to take my camera when I was down at the dock so the following were taken from the deck at the house on zoom:

Keaton and Eric on the left, Ann and Cameron on the right

Ann and Cameron coming in to the dock

Part of the remodel included expanding the deck and adding a roof over half of it, making a wonderful outdoor room.  We made good use of it from the time we got up (coffee overlooking the river) until it got dark.  

Ann enjoying some of Dan's birthday cake

Cameron enjoying a relaxing moment

Daniel playing on Papa Dan's iPad

The lovely view

An evening game of ladder ball

What a wonderful time we all had!  Spending time with family is just the best gift of all.  How blessed we are!  ♥

And A Big Wind Came Along...

A week ago today we were on our way home from a visit at the Bruder Bear Resort.  As we drove north from Riggins, we noticed the wind was blowing.  REALLY blowing.  As our trusty Explorer crossed the bridge over the Salmon River just south of the White Bird grade I wasn't sure I could keep it on the road and I could only imagine how the 18-wheeler behind me was going to make it.  All the way up the grade we were blown and buffeted.  I was afraid to drive in the outside lane and kept to the left passing lane.  By the time we arrived in Grangeville, my hands were sore from clenching the steering wheel, but we made it and I was thankful.  

When we finally arrived home, it was dark and we unpacked and headed for bed.  When I got up the next morning, Dan had left for his Thursday morning guys Bible study and he'd left a note on the counter saying the wind had broken one of our hybrid poplar trees!  I looked out the dining room window and this was the scene:

Poor broken tree!

We had no idea the storm was so widespread.  From Riggins to Spokane and north there were downed trees and downed power lines.  Our power had been out; we'd noticed blinking clocks when we'd gotten home, but it was back on.  We heard that there were people without power until Sunday!  

But now we had our work cut out for us.  Or at least Dan did.  It was still windy on Thursday, so Friday morning Dan put in a call to his buddy Dennis and together they worked out a plan.  

If you look carefully at the above photo, you can see Dan's blue shirt as he climbs the ladder to attach a cable to the upright portion of the tree.  The other end of the cable was attached to the rear of our pickup off to the right.  Dennis ran the chain saw as Dan kept tension on the cable.  When the cuts were just right, Dan pulled with the truck and...

WHAM! Down came the main tree followed by the broken top.  Now all that was left was the cleanup.  Lots and lots of cleanup.  But we had help.

Lots of help!

And now we have a big empty spot in our back yard where once a mighty poplar stood.  (Come back tomorrow for the story of our trip to Bruder Bear's.)  ♥ 

Ponderings from My Sewing Room

There's an old story floating around about a little boy with very few toys. He did, however, have two matchbox cars which he loved and played with daily.  A grownup friend's heart went out to this little boy and as she spread the word, many people bought additional cars for her to give to him.  A while later, on a visit, she noticed that he wasn't playing with any of them.  When she asked why, he replied that he didn't know how to love that many!

That story came to my mind this week as I studied the new fabric and quilt book I picked up last week. The book had so many patterns that I loved, I was almost overwhelmed trying to decide which to make first. I had enough fabric to choose almost any one of them. Yesterday afternoon I went to my sewing room and sternly told myself to make a decision.  And I did!  I had a fun time sewing this little wall hanging:

I love how the scenes from the panel fabric are framed as if seen through a window.  Now I just have to decide how to quilt it!!  Ack!  More decisions!!  ♥

Feelin' Swanky

Swanky:  stylishly luxurious and expensive

Yes, that would be how I'm feeling after my latest embroidery project.  I'm just sorry it took me so long to do it.  What?  What's that you say?  What did I do? Well, I monogrammed our sheets!  Yes, I did, and I love it.  Or them.  Whatever...

I've made many, many machine embroidered pillowcases over the years, starting back with my little Deco 600 sixteen years ago, and I love them.  But lately I've wanted to up the swank, so to speak, and have a set of sheets that spelled (haha!) luxury.  Every time I washed our sheets, as I put them back on the bed, I'd think, "I should monogram these right now," but then I'd decide to wait to a better time.  Turns out yesterday was the day.  

The above picture is of the band on the top sheet, monogrammed in the center.  The letters come from OESD's Sterling Monograms and are absolutely gorgeous!  I resized to fit the sheet band and they stitched out perfectly.  I resized again for stitching on the pillowcase bands and again they stitched out perfectly.

When we bought our first queen mattress about twenty-five years ago, I made a decision to have all cream linens and blankets on our bed.  They seem so restful, and I still just love having everything match.  I'm also a huge fan of tone-on-tone for monograms, so that's what you see.  I do indeed feel swanky!  ♥

And in the Sewing Room...

I have some fun coming up!  I stopped by the quilt shop Tuesday and came away with a bag of goodies.  A new Christmas line of fabrics, Through the Winter Woods by Holly Taylor for Moda, had come in along with a book of patterns designed around it.  Swoon!  I was soon happily piling bolts on the counter and clutching the book as I added more to the pile.  Here's what I came home with:

The fabric on the right is a panel of eight wintery landscapes that can be used in a quilt or a wall hanging. I'm thinking the wall hanging as it's much more usable in my house or as a gift.  (There's only so much room for full-size Christmas quilts in one house.)  I bought two-yard cuts of the other fabrics, but I'm thinking I may need to go buy more of the line.  It's been quite a while since I went on a true fabric buying spree and so I feel no guilt.  :-)

I finished another project the other day.  I picked up the latest issue of Patrick Lose's Quilting Celebrations magazine a few weeks ago and just loved the sunflower table mat.  The full pattern was included, but there was a note that a digitized embroidery design (which would greatly simplify the applique) was available for purchase. I decided to order it and made several of the mats.  They are so, so...just right!  Of course, I love sunflowers!

It's been good to be back in my sewing room.  ♥

Microwave, Oh Microwave

I know I mentioned some time ago about receiving my first microwave for Christmas about 1980 and not being able to sleep Christmas Eve because I wanted one so badly but wasn't sure I would get one.  Oh I loved that machine when it finally arrived at my house!!  (Dan had stored it at my friend Sue's house and when I called to retrieve it Christmas morning, her husband playfully disavowed all knowledge and hung up!) 

I know many people think microwaves are not real kitchen equipment, but I beg to differ.  Over the years, I'd say I've reheated thousands of cups of tea and coffee because I seem to drink a little, set my cup down for an hour or so and then want more, so for that reason alone a microwave is a necessity for me.  I have several microwave recipes that I've used for years, including one for coffee cake that was in the wonderful recipe book (hardbound!) that came with my first microwave.  When the kids were growing up, we had it many a Sunday morning before church because it cooks in only seven minutes and is totally yummy.  And then there are its reheating qualities.  Need I say more?

When we moved to the house before this one, Dan bought me a new microwave one Mother's Day. I had been longing for an over-the-range one so precious counter space could be freed up, and it did just that, to my joy.   

That first over-the-range microwave was moved to this house and then replaced about thirteen years ago when it wore out.  That one lasted until noon yesterday, when it died with a loud buzz.  REALLY loud. SCARY loud. Since we were in the middle of lunch and planning to use it to finish parts of said lunch, we came to the immediate conclusion that whatever plans we had for the afternoon were null and buying a new microwave was first up.  It was readily apparent that we could not function in our kitchen without one.

And here, let me say that our kitchen is no HGTV showroom.  Our cupboards are old and in need of redoing (I long for painted cupboards with bead board insets), and our appliances are, well, um, bisque, not stainless steel, black, or even white.  Yes, we are hopelessly lost in the eighties.  But I like it that way! Stainless steel appliances seem so cold and industrial, and when I've seen them in real kitchens, they have fingerprints on them.  I don't know about you, but I have better things to do than buff my appliances every day. And white? Too stark.  Black?  Too dark and dreary. So, bisque (lighter than the old almond) is perfect for me, even though I know its days are long past.

So, when we set off to purchase our new appliance, I told Dan sadly that this was probably going to be the start of a whole new set of appliances because I am not a fan of mismatched ones.  In our poorer days we had been there, done that, and hopefully we are long past those days.  You can imagine my delight when we found the microwave section of our local appliance store and there were actually two bisque models on display!  Yes! One was a newer model of the one we were replacing and it was even on sale for less than the cheaper model. Only one problem--we had to buy the display model because it was the last one.  

Oh, therein lay what turned out to be the source of our most frustrating installation ever.  The box for our new toy was missing along with the instructions, etc.  They made photocopies for us using ones from the new (white) one they would put on display, but important templates, including one that was part of the box were overlooked.  They were good enough to bring one set of missing instructions out to us but missed the template that was on the box.  One more trip by us to the dealer finally landed that template and we were in the hole-drilling business. (Wouldn't you think that top models of the same brand would mount the same way?  But no, a whole new bracket was needed, with new holes in the wall and cabinet above.  Can we say Swiss cheese?)

Let's just say that all did not go smoothly and let it go. But, finally, at nine o'clock last night, with help from Dan's friend Dennis for the final installation (those over-the-range microwaves are very heavy and awkward), we had liftoff. Dan retired to his recliner for a well deserved rest and I set about restoring order to my kitchen.  And here is our new microwave in all its glory.

Looks just right.  ♥

A Small Holiday Project

I hadn't done any machine embroidery since I did the aprons for a friend who works at a nearby shop back in November.  I know.  I had burned myself out coming up with projects for the quilt shop and I just couldn't even think embroidery until, well, until now.  And did I mention I retired from the quilt shop?  I did.  The flowers finally did me in and I never went back after my last day on January 2.  

Anyhoo, after I finished the runner I felt the call of my 830.  And it said hitch up the embroidery unit and do something!  I'd gotten an email from Gooseberry Patch featuring food and decorating for the Fourth, and one of the ideas was a table topper, which I initially thought was a coaster.  Anyway, it gave me an idea and I decided to run with it.  I brought up a design from a patriotic set from OESD, resized it to be four inches square and set about stitching it out.  And stitch I did. Or rather my machine did.  The entire top is solid stitches and it took just over a bobbin of thread!  And the bobbin on an 830 is, they say, 40% larger than a normal bobbin!  That's a whole lotta thread!

I wasn't sure what I'd end up with, and given the time it took to stitch out, I wasn't sure I'd want to do more than one, but as I used the coaster today, I think I'll do at least one more. 

I used a blue heather felt for the fabric and slid another piece under for a backing before the red border stitched. I think I might have liked white felt better, but it would get dirty faster.  My daughter Ann came up with the idea for these felt coasters some years ago.  They wash and seem impervious to assaults by little boys.  Oh, and they don't scratch the furniture.  ♥