A Good Day
Our neighbors to the north, Jan and Randy, are good neighbors. Jan came over numerous times to take home some greenery that was by no means a flower this growing season. When snow falls Randy hits our drive with the tractor and snowblower before he heads in to John Deere for work. Randy’s mother was having a 90th birthday party today. They had been at a loss as to what to take as a memento gift. Friday after Jan got home from her work at the public school, she came over to see what I may have in my stitched out embroidery stash. Nothing for use in a kitchen would do. I told Jan to come back Saturday morning, that was yesterday.
My Bernina is now five years old. Shortly after I had purchased it, I purchased the Bernina software product called Tool Box. On my HP laptop, I can configure any type of wording into the size of embroidery hoop I want to use on the sewing machine’s embroidering module with a selection of over twenty fonts. Being able to have multiple lines of text and adding in a design all in one hooping is fantastic. No guesswork for placement. That’s great as I do have a bit of a problem lining things up.
Yesterday morning, I spent time on the laptop working with the project in hand. Wouldn’t you know my multiple lines of text were 16.5″ in length and the maxi hoop will only do 15″ in length. Back to the edit and it was shrunk down for a doable fit.
When Jan came over, she took a lot and gave thumbs up. I had several place mats on hand. She chose the brown one and then . . . on to choosing thread colors. “We Don’t Count the Years – We Keep the Memories.” A small flower in fall colors was added. Jan had her eight-year-old granddaughter with her and they joined me in the studio to take in the stitching process.
As we were stitching, Dennis’ granddaughter, Sadie, and her two small girls stopped in from Mankato. The studio was just buzzing for the afternoon. With Dennis’ help, cookies were served while the three little girls got out the buckets of Schleich animals to play with on the carpet. Megan and Nicholas had picked out three ice cream pails of animals over time at the Fleet and Farm store when they stayed with us. Best investment ever.
Sadie is full time military. With the studio jumping with activity, Sadie and Dennis got a bit of quiet time in the patio porch for some commiserating; his Korean experience and what Sadie has experienced during her three tours abroad.
Neighbor Jan did a great job running interference with the three girls. At the end of the afternoon, Jan and her granddaughter walked back around the picket fence with gift in tow as a 90th birthday gift for today.
Dennis and I wrestled up a light supper for Sadie and the girls. It was a very busy day, probably the busiest day I have experienced thus far this year since the health issues.
Everything went well. All of our guests left satisfied and with smiles. Sadie’s two girls got to make a new friend in Jan’s granddaughter.
Dennis helped with the supper dishes. For me . . . I could not wait to shower and find my bed before nine last night. A good day was had.