Sukkot Quilt

That I didn't finish in time, as Sukkot ends Tuesday. I had made some pennant decorations, like these, out of the apple and pear fabric and made this out of the leftovers. The people are from an old photo taken at our synagogue nearly a hundred years ago- I thought the Sunday school class might enjoy being invited to a Sukkah Party! I have started hand quilting it, and when I finish I am considering making more of these for the different Jewish holidays, always with the Sunday school class. Dunno. Might get bored of it and just move onto something else.

Bad Day All Better!

When you have had the kind of day I have, with manglement encounters, squirrely patients, short staff, coworker too sick to work but working anyway ( causing me to worry about said coworker), another squirrely patient, a really really mean doctor who bullies you into doing a whole lot of work for a discharge that is then changed completely; well when you have had that kind of day, it is right nice to come home to a box with these in it.  Ahhhhh.  Get yours here.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001ECHWDG/ref=oss_product

Some one isn't pulling their weight around here...

As evidenced by this petite little egg. To the right is the usual size. This dainty little egg, I notice is much darker, and very cute, too. Chickens are funny!

Owl Fabric Spiderwebs

This was an experiment in using "modern" fabrics.  Mostly blue and brown.  I really like the pale blue background owl. As per usual they were all $2 a yard things from the local fabric store sale.  I had thought to use the brown background owl fabric as a back, but what the hey. It definitely has the low contrast thing going on.  I kind of like it, but not a lot.

We have had a quiet Yom Kippur.  After the children's service, my husband brought the kids home.  It's the first year my 12 year old has tried to fast.  He has done pretty good.  It's 5:30 and he has had 2 saltines and one cu of water.  It's kind of cool to see him wanting to be an adult.  Later on tonight is the evening service, when sundown comes, and then we all have a nice snack at the synagogue.  When we get home I have a steak in the fridge and I will make that.

Glass Beach

There is a beach about a hour from our house that is really just the place where the road meets the water. It is alongside a big bridge, and there is a fishing pier. The beach was filled with the kind of things that wash up from the ocean- driftwood, bottle caps, garbage, and lots and lots of sea glass.
Almost every other stone was sea glass or porceline that had been worn smooth. Some of it was red glass, obviously tails light, and that made me shiver hoping that the crash that nade the tail lihts shatter had bee a mnor one. The vast majority was white glass, with a littl blue, a little green, and slighty more beer bottle brown.

I can't figure where it all comes from. Was it duped? Does the bridge make a current? Can there be that many kids, sitting on the pier at night and tossing their beer bottles?

This reminds me of when my brother and I used to take our red wagon out to pick up all the beer bottles left by kids who were parking and drinking. We had a nickel deposit on bottles where I grew up, and we would make $5 each, some days. My poor mom- it never occured to us that we might not be sending the best impression, always turning up at the grocery store with forty or more beer bottles every Sunday!

The kids picked up at least five pounds of sea glass, I picked up a small bag of trash, and we had a nice day.

Chickens!

The girls are the only ones who are happy with our hot weather. They scratch out dust wallows and loll around limply, wings extended to absorb maximum heat. I made fountain out of an ebay purchased metal junk sculpture. Originally, I wanted him to be above the pond, but the Little pump I have was not strong enough. It runs off a solar panel. I haven't seen any of the girls drink out of it yet, but they may figure it out soon.

These are the new chickens . They ar Buff Orpingtons, and have small combs. They are rally skittish, even though they were picked up every day for two months when they lived in the house. I Think they are pretty, but they haven't layed many eggs, spook easily, and had a hard time getting along with the other chickens. I won't get them again, unless egg production picks up considerably. We named them when they were chicks, but they have so little personality we just call them the babies.

This is Lucy, one of two red sex-linked chickens. She's a good layer, calm around humans and bossy to the other chickens. I think the big wattles and combs are funny, and since it doesn't freeze here, there's no problem with them. Her hatch mate Sally had a bout with pneumonia last winter, and against my better judgement, I treated her with injected antibiotics. Picture me, sneaking out to the coop after dark, a syringe in hand, to grab her and stick her in the breast meat with antibiotics! I kept her warm with a lightbulb, and she pulled through. She doesn't lay much, but she has a happy chicken life, eating her head off and so forth. I was too tender hearted to do her in, and we don't ( can't in city limits) slaughter them because they are pets. So, I have a happy creature that lays an egg maybe once every two weeks and eats her weight in feed. Oh, well, she kept Lucy company until the babies grew up.

Cookies as Big as Their Heads!

That is all.

What I did this weekend

Here is the front of the Liberated Sand Pails...back brought to front and machine sewed down for binding...

And here is the back. Took a while to get the back to match the front in size, but I tell myself that the scrappines only adds to it's charm. I like this giant quilt block- I will do this again, especially for a large print like this fishy one. There is no batting, so there will be no quilting, so it is done!

Slogged through the husband's T-shirt quilt with minimal in the ditch quilting. Binding is on, needs to be hand sewed down.

Also sandwiched another two sided summer spread (quilt with n batting inside) that I want to send to a friend, so I'll post it after they get it. I don't know if the recipient reads my blog or not, so mums the word for now. Altogether that's FIVE tops that were used up today. If it weren't so hard to match sizes, I would do more two sided quilts. Measuring is not my strong suit.

White Rotary Sewing Machine Rescue!

Saved from the trash, a perfectly nice early 1930's White (brand) sewing machine. After removing what looked like an entire spool of thread that had wound around the drive shaft, it ran . After cleaning,oil and grease, it ran well and made a nice stitch. Not bad for an 80 year old machine.

Has an unusual foot pedal. Very comfortable to use, though. The krinkle finish on the machine's paint was supposed to be easier on the machine opperaors eyes than a shiny finish. It is a very respectable olive green/black color. I also got the machine's case, which needs a new handle and a thourough airing. It even has a clever place to put the foot controller in the lid of the case. The hinges that hold the machine to the wooden base are identicle to the ones in the White treadle cabinet. The bobbin is the same as the treadle, too, and the foot is of the old back clamp variety. This meands that I have a set of hemming feet that fit it.

What will I do with this, my 11 th machine? (eight electric, two treadles). I dunno. Maybe find someone who wants it, after hoarding it for a while? Not sure. It has a nice understated deco vibe to it. I think it's happpy to be rescued!