Good Friends

 Well, this is a good friend isn't it? I had a friend from Colorado come and spend 4 days with me this week and my little Spencer above was getting a belly rub and airing out, but totally his guest was enjoying the belly rub.  She has no critters at the present, but loves my furkids.  Just couldn't resist this picture.  It truly is a Dogs life at our house.

This is a project we have been wanting to do and it finally got done.  She loves barns, having grown up on a farm and barn quilts are so interesting that we both wanted to do one.  Of course we don't have barns, but we purchased some weathered wood pieces and found patterns from quilt sources and below is the process and finished pieces.

 She chose the Ohio Star block and I chose the Wyoming square which is a similar pattern.  Each state does have a quilt square by the way.  We marked the pattern off on the wood and decided what colors we would each use, marking with tape.

 The wood was not smooth, so we used sponge brushes that could be thrown away if needed.  These projects went much easier than we anticipated.  We went over to another friend's home to actually paint these and she has a  room set up in her basement which was perfect for this and she made lunch for us also...Thank You Mary.

 I should have flipped my picture below, but forgot and my good friend chose only the two colors above, but this was a very successful venture.  I say this  only because not all of our attempts at projects are as easy.

I have known this friend for 50 years and consider myself so very lucky that she is among those "good friends" that I have had the privilege of knowing.  We have made so many good memories over the span of that many years.  (the footprint on the floor is actually one of her grandchild) She had her grandchildren help her paint her floor. Love it!

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."     ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Other things

 This is just a collection of things we have done over a period of time.  The Mr is working on a leather cuff and between us, we adapted a pattern from a picture I saw.  We have a Tandy shop here so embellishments are available to look at and I have picked a jeweled piece for the center.  I haven't totally decided if I want it painted (the feathers) or if I want him to stain it.  Leather cuffs are really in style and several people are making them from tooled belts.  However, we have the leather in stock and can design just about anything, size, tooling (thanks to the Mr) dye color etc.  I think he has done a great job! Will post the finished cuff later.

This quilt is one I made several years ago, but the real score is the quilt rack.  Our quilt organization gave us an opportunity to grab some items, fabric, batting, and books at a meeting last month and I scored this brass quilt rack for $5.00.  Turns out it belonged to a quilter I know so that makes it extra special!

 Another score are the tall candle sticks.  Actually they are turned pieced from a staircase as one end was cut at a slant, but the Mr. again came to my rescue and with trusty saw (one of the few tools we kept when we moved) made them level again.  They are quite large and I painted some old jar lids to put the candles in and chose to leave the original finish on them for the time being.  What I noticed later is that they actually are not a matched set...one is a bit larger than the other, but I am OK with that.  These too, were a $5.00 purchase at a shop here at Christmas.

This week, I have a friend coming and we have a painting project planned.  She loves old barns and pictures of old barns.  But she also wants to replicate a picture of a barn quilt.  We have purchased a weathered board plaque and will post pictures of our projects later in the week.

I have just taken banana bread out of the oven, finished a batch of chocolate biscotti and have a pineapple upside down cake started...can you smell the goodness?

The Mr.

 We have some very good friends who camp, travel, guide and hunt.  We don't get to see them as much as we would like, but they did stop last week and we met them for a late lunch,   This funny looking piece of leather above is an ammo case which has obviously been damaged (by a dog).  Dogs like to chew on leather and we have even given scraps to dogs to chew on for their enjoyment and it keeps them busy for hours.  But they don't really realize that not all leather which beckons them should be chew toys.  Some time ago the Mrs. asked if my Mr. might be able to re-lace it as it had come apart and had been temporarily been "fixed" with heavy line.  This is, she informed us, had a great deal of sentimental value and she would not trust it to be sent through the mail.  So after hunting season, the holidays and their trip to the west coast for a few weeks, she hand delivered it to us.
The Mr. does wonderful leather work and she trusted him to repair it as it was.  He could have made a new one easily enough, but since she specified that this was special, he was able to repair it as best he could without compromising the original piece.  Below are the pictures of the damage and the finished ammo case.
 

 The little curved missing piece, and unlaced side piece along with a small tear in the flap are "doggie damage".

 The Mr. hand stitches using the existing holes and uses the vise below, with a piece of wood inside the case to support the case while in the vise.

 The finished case below, without adding extra leather and the little tear in the flap was repaired hopefully, it will stay repaired.  The Mr. did a beautiful job and we have a few more projects in mind now that we are settled and have our work spaces up and running. Just need to get it back to her, but not through the mail.

"Friendship is a sheltering tree." ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

A new case....

 So I have been watching a lot of murder mysteries...old ones that I probably saw but have forgotten, but this is not a mystery case.  I do love them and have begun to read about Miss
Fisher's murder mysteries, since I can not longer see them on the telly.  Why oh why, can't we just pick the channels we would like to view?  With all of the other advances in technology, this should be a given.  In fact, I love the fact that I can access these books on my I pad from the library now.  That is technology I like, and I can even check out magazines and keep them forever so I do not have to change my address on subscriptions as we seem to move way too often.

   I have gotten away from my intended post.  I have a featherweight Singer sewing machine that I truly love and as old as these machines are, they can be refurbished and sew like little trucks.  As the name implies, they are lightweight and perfect to haul to classes or guilds or wherever you need a little truck of a machine.  Mine is about 70 years old and young at that.  However, the cases which are wood and covered with a dark sturdy fabric, don't always wear as well with age.

 I discovered that the fabric could be removed and a wonderfully constructed wooden case under it could be refinished.  It took me a week to get the fabric off as it was glued very well and left a very unsightly picture.  I was not prepared for all of the work, but with muscle, sharp razor, and lots of sanding, I have a beautiful case.  Mine was in great shape (no loose boards or missing hardware) The top picture shows inside lid, and then the inside bottom. Faintly stamped the bottom of the dovetailed case was "Made in Canada".  The construction is amazing.

I decided on a darker stain and my intention is to paint something on the case, hopefully in the next week or two, but not sure exactly what I will do. 

"May you discover your own special abilities and contribute them toward a better world." ~ Charlene Costanzo

Winter again!!!!

 Look at my poor chairs!  This is a doozy of a storm after so many nice days, but for all of the complaining that I do, it is not flooding, or blowing us tornadoes (although the snow is blowing like crazy.)  That means that the roads are closing too.  I do not like the cold or the wind which is a given here in Wyoming.  These chairs have probably been a subject of several posts in the past, and now sport the pretty red color that I put on them last summer.  They follow me wherever I go as they are authentic from the middle of last century.  I remember my Aunt and Uncle having chairs like these back in the 50's and although reproductions are found today, they are not nearly as sturdy as the ones I have.  And the best part is that they were practically free.  I traded a small chest of drawers, originally an unfinished cheap piece to a wonderful lady (now gone to meet her maker) for them.  The glider needed some repair which the Mr. did, and I removed 4 layers of paint before my first coat.  They have been yellow, blue, and now red.  There is now a couple more inches of snow on them too.

I have been refinishing a singer featherweight wooden case for the last week and I intend to post some pictures in the next few days of the progress.  These wooden cases are as unique as the sewing machines, and I have stained mine now in preparation of painting something on it.  Stay tuned.

Christmas is always when I bake cookies and I bake a lot of them.  I deliverd to my neighbors and with a couple of them away this year, I had extras for us....a lot of extras.  Without my trusty freezer, I had to come up with some way to keep them fresh, so since it was so cold here, I had a cooler normally used for camping, in the garage and one on the deck which doubled as a freezer.  I forgot that they were there after a while, but the Mr. discovered them and we had cookies until recently.  Some of them were biscotti, which are wonderful with coffee as they are a dry, hard cookie, great for dunking.
I wanted a biscotti jar, but couldn't find one so I settled for a glass canister.  One of my favorite shopping places is our local Good Will, which is in a new building and is really nice.  At a recent "shopping trip" there, look what was on a shelf just screaming at me!!!  So for a mere $3.00, it is mine!

With the white fluffy stuff out there, I will indulge in the biscotti and coffee and dream of the day when I can do it on my red vintage glider.

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you can dream it, you can become it." ~ William Arthur Ward.

Pincushions and sandpaper

 OK so what do pincushions and sandpaper have in common? Not much except that is what I have been doing in my spare time.  Actually when you are retired like I am, my spare time is anytime I choose for the most part.  But I am making some pincushions for fun and hopefully I will be able to contribute some to the quilt retreat held in Encampment this summer.  I hope also to be able to attend this year.
Our move got in the way last year Anyway, I found these cute little baby Mary Janes at a thrift shop here and this is my first attempt.  I want to make several, not making any two

alike'
Now for the sandpaper....I didn't post a picture today, as I am still sanding on my project, but I have this wonderful little Singer Featherweight sewing machine, from the '50s and it came in it's original case.  I have been seeing these sturdy little cases being re-done.  The fabric covering, which has worn well, but is showing wear can be removed, the wooden case refinished and they are lovely!!!  Sounds easy right?....not so fast.  The glue which was used to adhere the fabric is tough stuff!  Next post will show the process and my perseverance will hopefully result in a gorgeous wooden carrying case for my prized machine!

"Happiness lies in the Joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hello Again!

Ok folks, I am finally back on my blog after a year of other things happening in my life.  Most everyone reading this knows that we have relocated back to Cheyenne and that there were some difficult days all year long.  Early in the year we decided that we would have to move closer to Drs. etc.  Selling a home, looking to relocate closer to our children (that didn't happen), having another hip replacement for the Mr., living in a camper in an RV park while boarding 2 dogs and a cat for a month, looking for and buying a home here all took the better part of 6 months.  Then we needed o furnish a home, after deciding not to pay thousands to move everything and we had a dog develop bladder stones which cost us over $1500.00, two surgeries and special food now.  But we dog lovers do love 'em don't we!  Old dogs should have medicare!

So the Mr. has his new pool table and is playing again in leagues, and I have my sewing room pretty much up and running and we have a very valuable dog (at least investment wise).  All is good!

The sewing room brings me back to this blog and this post.  I have again connected with some of my quilting friends here and the Dresdan plate block is my first contribution to a round robin which will be sent to the next quilter in the group.  She will make another block and it continues to be passed month by month until all have had the blocks and returned to me.  It will be exciting to see all of the plate blocks when finished.  By the way, there are 3 groups in the guild from 6-9 or so in each group.

So Valentines Day is tomorrow and yesterday was our 53rd anniversary.  Can't say Wedding Anniversary 'cause we didn't have a wedding.  We were married, but by a Justice with parents and siblings in attendance. It was during the Vietnam War and the draft was notifying all young men that they were being called into service if they weren't exempt. It was a time in our history, somewhat like today, where the nation to most observers, seemed divided.  The Mr., 3 of his brothers, my sister's husband and most of the young men at that time, were called to serve, and like their fathers, they did.
But the welcome home was different.  Only now, after many are gone, are they receiving the gratitude for putting their lives on the line for their country.  I try to remember that united we stand and divided we fall, but it seems we are divided now more than I can recall, even during that war decades ago.  

I will begin my blogging on a lighter note now that I have had my "rant", so keep checking in on me!