Big things in small pkgs

 With the freezing temps we have had, we have mostly been holed up in the house.  It has given me an opportunity to actually do some sewing on some quilt projects.  Over the past few years I have purchased fabric with a specific project for (when I have time) or just because it was a good deal or just because, with nothing in particular on my mind.  As a child, I loved to sew and it started with hand work at the knee of my paternal grandmother.  She was a small lady, several inches shy of the 5' mark..she wore a size 4 shoe.  Must be where we all got our lack of height.  But big things do come in small packages.  I honestly don't think there was anything she couldn't do.  Her mother died when she was only 6 and having completed first grade, she then stayed home to keep house for her brothers and father.  A neighbor woman took her under her arm and taught her most everything she needed to know.  She gave birth to 11 children, 9 of whom survived to adulthood.  She taught me to crochet, and although she was left-handed, she really could use her right hand as well as her left.  So when I was old enough, my mother let me start on the sewing machine.  I started out with doll clothes and eventually was making my own.  Thus my passion for the sweatshop upstairs. Good light, good music and the companionship of my furkids.  This is my version of the "baby gate" for my machine.  Purchased at the dollar store, (it was the 5 & 10 when I grew up), I cut off the handles and with a little more tweaking..voila.  I came out of the bedroom on Monday and stooped to pick up what I thought was a thread. (I find them all over my clothes when I sew).  It was a long piece, down the hall, across the living room, wrapped around the legs of the secretary, up the stairs, through the loft and into my sewing room and still attached to the machine above.  Coalette rubs against the machine, but her tail picked up the thread and she proceeded to come and find me. I do have a cover for the machine, but it is a soft vinyl and she has chewed holes in it. Bad cat!!

 These are two of the collars my little boys are now sporting that the Mr. made and he is working on one for Hildy.  Both little guys got haircuts this week so it is only fitting that they have new hardware.

We had deer outside the patio this a.m. when Spencer here went out with Hildy, (Roger, above, is my fair weather dog and still hasn't gone out.) and even though he is only about 15 lbs, he thinks he is a Russian Wolfhound and takes off like he is flying.  He doesn't have a clue that he hasn't a chance to catch them, but big things do come in small packages.

"Act as though it were impossible to fail." ~ Anonymous