Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from January, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 2:25 pm on January 30, 2025 Permalink  

  Ready 

  My studio is ready to take on come what may.

  I do have a large selection of the Isacord thread colors.  I keep up with the master printed chart that has a color swab with the color number on it.  When I am in the process of deciding on a stitch out, I reference the number on the actual design chart to compare to my master print out.  It doesn’t take long for me to know if I can pull that spool of thread or if I need to find one that is in close color comparingly.

  I keep my threads in plastic cases, each hinged case holding 36 spools and filed by smallest to largest number.  That range is then written on a slip of paper lying on top of the spools.  At a quick glance my quest can be found.  The cases are not near sunlight.  The threads are an investment that should not be bleached by the sun or capturing dust that may be in the air.

  Today the 24 spools I had used yesterday were filed back where they belong for the next embroidered project. Years ago, I knew it would only be one brand of thread that I would have for embroidery.  For straight stitching, I have a collection of various brands.

  

  My project of yesterday had more attention today, as I pulled out some quilt batting as well as a fabric to line the tote bag I am planning.  That is all for another day.  I needed to turn my attention to my sewing machine.  I have oil that is in a syringe looking pen.  A new needle was at hand as well as various tweezers if I found a stray thread.  The sewing machine will thread the needle so that little ditty needed cleaning.  The sewing machine will cut the threads as I go on with the stitching.  That also called for attention to be given.  The threading of the needle and the cutting option were huge in deciding on this sewing machine.  It saves the arthritic hands and shoulders more than what can be imagined.

  After several hours in the studio, I was ready to attend to the first floor and check in with Dennis.  The sun is bright with little wind.

  Again, the county’s highway department is hauling trimmed trees to our tree dump north of us.  I am sure with no snow, or mud to contend with, this is hitting those projects that they have on a tick list.

  Checking the traffic from my bedroom porch while enjoying a cup of breakfast coffee, will wind down my afternoon until supper needs to be looked after.

  With that I will be taking my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:32 pm on January 29, 2025 Permalink  

  Record Breaking 

  We are in the midst of record breaking temperatures these last days.  Living a dream but not going to leave February out of what could be a nightmare.

  Without any delay, I got myself into the studio today.  I had had too many days where it wasn’t in the plans.  This design pattern is over 90,000 stitches.  There are 24 different colors used over 34 times.  It is a challenge for me that I have wanted to do for several years.  My hope is to have a beautiful sewing tote.

  As usual Dennis came in at noon and asked if I was going to come up for air.  No.  I am going to see this through and all systems have been working smoothly.  I had the filled bobbins to swap out.  It is 2:45 and I have two hours remaining.  My machine is set at a modest speed.  I don’t have the heart or the courage to run it wide open as Amanda from Bird Island does.  I have no tech to fix it on the spot as she does.

  This day has been in the planning for some time and I am enjoying the fact that one eye is on the embroidery hoop and the other is cutting out some quilt blocks.

  I have no idea what has gone on anywhere else on our homestead.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:44 pm on January 28, 2025 Permalink  

  Bricks Needed 

  We went up to the courthouse this morning.  First challenge was the wind from the north.  I could have used bricks in my pants.  The heavy railing they have put next to the sidewalk was used with every step I took.

  I looked at the roster of department heads.  My, my.  All new from when I left service in 2009.  We got our questions answered and Dennis got his new tabs for the little red pickup.

  With the biggest task completed, I came into the house and went straight down to the studio.  I was determined to make progress on the setup needed for my next project.  Mission completion.  I have multiple bobbins wound.  The canvas has had the edges surged to prevent raveling. I have my canvas in the hoop.  The tray with the collection of threads is on a tray within reach as they wait on the corner of the church table within reach of the sewing machine.  A piece of purple fabric is on the ironing board.  I will use that to add blocks to those long awaited embroidered designs that have nagged me long enough.  So there!

  I am not sure what Dennis is up to in the patio porch.  We will be meeting up for a supper of chicken tenderloins, potatoes and cauliflower in a steamer bag. 

  I usually open the weather on my computer.  I then expand the map to check for where the snow will be coming from.  Nothing for the next 24 hours.  I like that.

  As soon as the kids to the south of us are off of the afternoon school bus, they are riding their bikes up and down on Stauffer Avenue.  The contest seems to be which one can do some sharp turns making the most dust.  So it is January 28th with 50 degree weather.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on January 27, 2025 Permalink  

  Monday the 27th 

  The start of a new week during the last week of January 2025.

  Dennis’ grandson, AJ, came for a visit to see his grandpa as AJ had today off.  AJ has a crew that does underground cable.  AJ’s boss runs a crew doing likewise towards the metro.  AJ always asks if there is anything that we need help with.  It’s a good thing.

  I have shifted my time from the studio and to the first floor and back again.  Slowly I will achieve something in the studio.  When my concentration has been broken, it is easier to throw in the towel and pick it up the next day.

  Dennis needed some consultation at the dining room table this afternoon.  Dennis purchased his Cub-Lo-Boy from a friend of his years back.  That friend, Jack, has since passed away.  Recently after the purchase, Dennis replaced all the wiring after a bit of a fire.  The tractor has a belly mount mower on it.  It is a good mower to use on the acre that we have been cleaning up.  Kevin helped with an engine seal last year.  This morning AJ checked with his grandpa if a second assist needed to be put on the opposite fender.  AJ put one on last fall.  It is of the same type that we have in our bathroom on the wall.  It was a bit difficult for Dennis to get off and on securely.  It was decided one was sufficient.  With no snow on the ground, I think, even with the cold and the colder yet winds, Dennis is getting spring fever.  Bless his heart.

  Me?  I am so thankful to not have any fever of any kind.  

  Nothing new to report is always a good thing.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:58 pm on January 26, 2025 Permalink  

  Hello 

  Hello to the sunshine with . . . very little wind.  How sweet is that!

  I have had a good conversation with my brother in Cloquet.  We chatted back and forth for over an hour.  I had not visited with him since Eric had helped him to relocate from Decorah, Iowa, over the Christmas.  Calvin stayed at Eric’s, outside of Duluth, for several days as Eric got the assisted living apartment ready to move into.

  It has been a change for Calvin, not a bad one.  He has a set-up with what he enjoys, much like how it was in Decorah, his television and his computer.

  After the New Year, our cousin Mark and his wife popped in to visit Calvin.  Mark lives in Finland, north of Duluth.  Mark’s dad, Melvin, was the youngest of my mom’s family of eight siblings.  Melvin worked and retired from the radar station that was active during war times protecting what may be coming in from across the ocean.  Calvin thought the visit was great.  It’s been a long time since Decorah held no possibility of a visit such as that.

  This morning, Megan and I shared a text back and forth.  Her courses are keeping her busy as well as doing some in-service off site related to her endeavors in the classroom.

  I have wandered from the studio to my bedroom porch and back.  The fabric I want to use for the next embroidery has been squared and the next step is to take in a tutorial on YouTube on a tote bag on which to put the embroidery.  I want to make sure I can get the centering of the design.

  Super is a container of Chili out of the freezer.  Sweet.

  Our week is free of any appointments.

  There is nothing like having choices throughout my days.  I will note that yesterday, Maria commented on the rise of the RSVP cases and covid.  Maria shares her salon work week with Windom as well as St. James.  Windom seemed to be her biggest concern.  I trust Maria and her nursing skills as much as the wickedness of sharp shears for a great haircut.  I do believe I will keep my nose down right here in my home.  I lack for nothing.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:25 pm on January 25, 2025 Permalink  

  Hmm 

  Oh yes, they spoke of forecasting temps in the twenties.  Nothing was mentioned of winds that would take us to feeling like -4.  Never to mind.  The strong wind rolling the dust down Stauffer Avenue, taking it south doesn’t make it feel like January.

  This morning we motored four block west of our home to visit Maria for haircuts and pedicures.  What a feeling of a treat.  There is nothing like it.  We came home at noon for a lunch of crab salad.  The flavors that have been co-mingling since yesterday’s forenoon.  Let me tell you, it served us well in the taste department as well as the texture of it.

  Dennis and I had a good full day yesterday, allowing us to take selective participation for this afternoon.  I don’t regret an afternoon like this.  The balance of life gives good days for happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons and best days make for good memories.

  I have a YouTube playing in the background while I am doing some stitching, sitting upon my cherry red chair in my bedroom porch.

  Supper is a replay of the tuna oven meal of last night.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:49 pm on January 23, 2025 Permalink  

  An Outing 

  Even a trip to our grocer’s qualifies as an outing.  Dennis did the chauffeuring.  Of course we did an entire sweep of the town afterwards.  Not much to see but my curiosity was quelched.

  With KNUJ giving me the latest and greatest within our listening area, I found the fabric I was seeking in the studio.  Sometime after I went to bed last night and before I got up this morning, I knew I wanted the canvas fabric I have had for some time to see the light of the studio environment.  Of course the threads I have out for an embroidery project are just going to have to wait a bit.  I do want to make us some new placemats for our refectory dining room table before I embroider on them.  Then I also pulled out a leaflet on making totes for grocery shopping.  Considering the pile of plastic grocery bags under one of the kitchen stools that is waiting to be dealt with . . . it might not be a bad idea.

  I had the canvas fabric on the church tables about to pick up a tape measure when I spied with my little eye, the amount of softener salt crystal in the corner of the studio where the brine tank is for the softener.  The ole Filter Queen vac was called into service.  As long as it was suited up for action, I did a bit more of the tidy tidy.  Man that beast of a vac is cumbersome and heavy to operate.  Physical therapy 101 for sure.  The only thing plastic on it is the collar that the attachments fit into.  It is heavy steel in the wand and the attachments. 

  So . . . there is no shortage of things to keep me at my prime.  Ya right!  My prime is long gone.  What is left is a skeletal frame with certain portions having been replaced.  I go forward each day with mischief, audacity and building a good story.  I think what is appreciated is that my mind is sharp and if I can think about doing something . . . I will work at it until the mission is completed. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:01 pm on January 22, 2025 Permalink  

  Damp Day 

  There is enough humidity in the air to allow a snowflake once in awhile.

  During this cold spell, I spent time at my desk in the bedroom porch of mine.  It has been a good feeling to get to several projects that I had on the far, far back burner.  The first was the circular wooden box of Ester Schafer’s.  It is now a sewing box holding many of the mini pillows I have stitched.  The second was using some of Esther’s silk floss that is now a bell pull sampler hanging next to our front door.

  The third project is now done.  I have been saving some small wooden blocks for decades.  They had been stored in Esther’s wooden box.  They were 1.5 x 1.5 varnished and waiting.  My dad, Raymond, had cut them for me.  Dad passed away in 1992.  Hmm.  These blocks have waited and needed to have something done with them.  You all know I was not going to do away with them.

  These blocks are now donning decals on all sides.  Some floral decals, some Christmas ones.  They are now housed in a wonderfully wooden bowl that my great uncle, Roy Grunewald, worked his magic on in his workshop.  Dad spent many hours at Roy’s house as Dad learned the ins and outs of using wooden shapes to be glued together and then turned on a wood lathe.   I have a lamp base and two smaller vessels that Dad turned out using walnut wood.

  

  I come from lineage that always had something going on the side after their daily work was done.  Did they think idle hands were the work of the devil?  I can’t speak to that.  What I can attest to is being creative comes second nature and it is oh so rewarding.

  The older priceless treasures have been touched and finished.  

  Today I went to the studio and pulled an embroidered pattern I had downloaded some time ago.  The pattern used Maderia brand embroidery threads.  I use only Isacord brand.  The first thing I had to do was to go online and find a conversion chart to print out matching color for color.  I liked the design enough to purchase it, so it warrants embroidering it.  All the spools are lined up on one of the church tables like sentinels.  I am giving serious thought on what to embroider it on.  Time will tell.

  Dennis is having a meal in a dish of the leftovers of last night’s supper.  I am having a steaming bowl of oatmeal.  It’s a win, win for each of us.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:34 pm on January 20, 2025 Permalink  

  So It Is 

  Today my goal for the morning was met.  Down into the studio with my shoes giving my feet good support, I made tracks.  Walking around the two church tables . . . around and around with KNUJ playing in the background.  Walking is walking.  Moving is moving to keep me going.

  While I was in the studio, I laid out some future plans.  When I had worked on a quilt for Megan with the OESD’s design package, “The Words of Wisdom,” I had some designs that were either duplicates or extras.  I have six of those extras.  I did cut each of them all down this forenoon to 9″ x 11.5″.  I pulled material to make them up into a small lap robe or a small quilt.

  I came upstairs with paper and pencil to plot out the rest of the story.  I believe it can be about 41″ x 61″ using plain colored block to intertwine with the embroidered blocks.  The 3 yards of flannel I pulled out to back it with, I need to pre-wash as flannel does shrink.  Shrink it now before completing the project, as the 100% woven cotton will not shrink.  

  My goal had been to use up some of the possibilities that were in the stashes, thus two placemats received embroidering.  I had very little left to use as a gift for . . . any occasion I make it.

  So what does the sewing machine work, the hand stitching work or reading add to my days?  It enhances my resilience.  When I attend to something else other than the stress of everyday life, or arthritic aches and pains, it helps.  It allows my mind to clear and detach.  I become so absorbed that it shifts me from small and annoying stressors.  My mind is in my safety zone.  

  Off and on snow squalls are making a showing.  Within the sheltered spots of the drive, there is a bit of collection.  Anything in the open has been relocated over and over with the wind. 

  For my money, I think a hot bowl of bean and ham soup with buttered toast will fill the bill for supper.  I will accept any other offer if it will be set in front of me at supper time.  Yaa, that is as unlikely as the thermometer here in my bedroom porch reading the outside temp at 50 degrees.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on January 19, 2025 Permalink  

  Today is Sunday 

  This day is Sunday and I have quarantined myself to the first floor of our home due to a cold cement floor and cold walls in the studio.  Bummer.

  When I poured breakfast coffee into my northern wall cup this morning, the steam rose like a volcanic reaction.  The coffee was tasty and the second cup stayed hot longer.

  About the only positive spin I could put on the winter of these last months is that with no snow, ice or sleet, there is nothing coming into the house that may have been caught on the bottom of the shoes.  Dennis makes untold number of trips from the patio porch to the house during the course of his days.  Me . . . not so much.  The reason being he has no options for his awake time to keep his interest.  Really unfortunate, but that is how it is.

  There ‘s been more traffic moving in the bitter cold as the afternoon has gone by.  As I was stitching and having a YouTube video on in the foreground of my desk, a vehicle caught my line of sight pulling into Stauffer Avenue.  Yup . . . it was the little red pickup heading to the garage.  Dennis, Dennis.   

  I have been stitching and reading for this day.  Any progress is good.  It is amazing how making one stitch over another to make a cross does count up. Watching videos, in certain geographical areas, there are many that find stitched projects to save in thrift stores.  Those that save them are stitchers themselves.  The Goodwill thrifters soon pick up on the fact that the inventory is all color coded to indicate how long it has been in the store before it is moved on to the next step, whatever that may be.

  We had a supper last night of sautéed jumbo shrimp, instant potatoes and greens.  This evening, I will brown the leftover potatoes, mix in some scrambled eggs and cut up breakfast sausage and call it a skillet meal.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥