ITS BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS.

I needed a sewing machine needle threader and stopped by Country Cloth in Angels Camp. Christmas kits for avid quilters are quick and easy. Ginger puts them together, her own ideas, and it makes for a quick satisfying project. But, not for me. I already have too many projects on hold. I enjoyed looking, even so.


I liked this kit, too. Maybe in my old age. I keep saying that.


I LOVE this. Three wise women would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stalls, made a casserole, brought practical gifts and then there would be PEACE ON EARTH. My daughter-in-law keeps this on her table during the season.


Her tree is one she and Ken bought from a cut your own tree farm. It is beautiful. I've been locked out of my small storage building where I keep my Christmas, Halloween, Easter, decorating stuff. Yesterday, I removed the door. I have little mini plastic trees, but I haven't gotten them up yet. I'm still doing cards. And, I practically faint at the price of Christmas trees these days. Memory can do a number on you.


But, Christmastime is too fun to stay home. I met my friend Marilyn for lunch at Firewood. She came up from Discovery Bay and had a hankering for Fish Tacos. We met a fascinating woman RVer, 77 years old, who travels on her own or with friends, or grandchildren, all over the country on her own. Her name is Kathy Walsh and I got her phone number. Can't wait to hear more tales of her travels. Anyway, I think Marilyn was a bit embarrassed because I wore this funky hat, and wanted my foot in the picture. I wore the hat because my hair was wet and it wouldn't behave.  My foot? Just being silly. Marilyn is a great writer and has a published book, but she is not interested in writing another.
Make good the season. Its okay to be silly. Ciao, my friends.

SMART MACHINES.

Rain came down with a vengeance, off and on all day yesterday. And, mighty welcome, too. I have a yen to sew when it rains and my Elna, ten years old but hardly used, is, like a cell phone, smarter than me. Read: frustrating. When I used to sew all the time, I had trouble with it. Now, I have to re-read and re-read the directions that are of questionable help, as in- to do this, you do this, and refer to page 21?  GAK!  I hate that. Thread kept breaking. I couldn't get the tension right, nor the stitch size right given you have to change it for zigzag. From the pictures, I couldn't tell what dial they were talking about. I brought the machine to my dining room table where the light is excellent and gave up after 3 or 4 tries. It sat there for a month. Yesterday, I got the tension and stitch right. A small ephiphany.


But, I'm not abandoning my reliable straight stitcher Singer that I hauled out of storage to use while the fancy machine took up space in the dining room. I'm going to keep it on my sewing table, JUST IN CASE.  It yanks your arm out of its socket when you lift it, but it isn't smarter than me. Read: simple.  (That probably describes me, too.)


I had new gutter guards professionally installed so I don't have to climb on the roof and clean gutters anymore. The company has returned five times because there is a leak in front of my door. I called the owner and he came to fix it. Well, the rain is gone for now, the whole deck is dry this morning except for that spot in front of my front door. I'm about ready to diss this company. There wasn't a leak before they cleaned my gutters and installed their system. If Jim were here, he'd be down to their office in a heartbeat. I might do the same come Monday since I have to go to Sonora for new tires.

I'm working on my book a bit each morning as I try and limit my on-line time to two hours a day.
I hope we get the rest of the rain we've been promised.

ENJOYING A COLD WEATHER DAY.

Being snowed in is an opportunity to pick up a quiet project and enjoy the day. I had several tasks that I could complete unhurried. I got news that a service is being held today for my friend Anne Williams which put me in a contemplative mood.


Years ago, she and I would quilt together, before the rotary cutters and modern quilting innovations. We would have lunch and spend and afternoon chatting and cutting quilt blocks, simple diamond squares or nine squares. We always made rescue quilts, meaning using up salvageable material from old clothing. We didn’t buy new material unless we needed muslin to applique on. Backing material for me was almost always an old sheet. Then I’d make a quilt or she would make a quilt from the blocks. I designed this one for my oldest daughter who was young and single and a runner at the time. The blocks we made were divided into earth and sky. The quilting reads run,run,run on the background pieces.

It isn’t an expert quilt like quilt guilds specialize in today where they nearly mass produce perfect quilts. I think they miss a lot of what I liked about quilting. Maybe not. I shouldn’t judge. But when I examine my quilts and take a few minutes to really look at them, memories of a certain dress I loved, now preserved in a tiny square, delight me. I’m looking at a square dance dress Anne and I made when we served on the design committee one year; a piece of my son’s shirt, a square from my daughter’s blouse. I must have spent a half hour enjoying this quilt.  My friends Pam and Russ own a store called Stories In Stones. Quilts are stories too, each one unique.