Getting ready

The batik quilt is finished!  It's quilted, bound, washed, dried and labeled, ready to be given to its new owners.  The pattern is called Bits and Pieces.  I have used this pattern several times, using various fabrics.  Once I had prints with large vegetables.  Another time the recipient asked for pink and purple.  And I did one using some of these same fabrics, incorporating the leftovers from that one into the current project.  I really like these colors and hope my friends will, too.

Several quilts are waiting for my attention.  I'm not sure which I will work on next.

I finished dealing with Liz's papers yesterday, so the desk where I was working is clear, ready for E to use when she comes.

Last night we pulled out the floor plans for the green and blue rooms, placing the various pieces of furniture in different configurations, trying to determine the best arrangement for each room.  Adding a queen bed to the guest room presents a challenge and will probably require us to rent a storage unit, at least temporarily.  I've been reading about mattresses, looking at various websites, thinking about what I want to replace our current mattress.  Randy has taken on the task of moving the TV with all its accoutrements downstairs.  He will also put locks on various cabinets to keep little hands from getting into cleaners and other harsh products.

Meandering

Yesterday I finished quilting the batik quilt.  I chose to do a meandering free-style machine quilting, which seemed to fit the quilt better than my usual diamond grid pattern.  It's a little harder on my hands because I have to move the quilt around under the needle without the help of the feed dogs, but if I spread the work over several days it helps.  I plan to begin binding it today.  Tonight is our turn to host the dinner/game group, so some house cleaning needs to be done first.  I think we will play "Old Maid," a game requiring little thought, no reading of small print, and not much strategy.  Only one other couple is coming.

We watched "Love and Mercy" this week, a movie about Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame.  His creativity during the 1960's was outstanding; he had mental health problems but music poured out of him.  The film's director chose Paul Dano to portray Wilson during the 60's and John Cusack as Wilson in the 80's.  Great choices!  We didn't find it distracting at all to have two different actors for the changing time periods.  Each was equally believable.  Dano even sang well.

Work continues on clearing out closets and other spaces.  I cancelled my trip to Phoenix next week, as K will not be out of town after all.  So I will be able to sort through more books, clothes and other things.

Closets

As we prepare for family visits this summer, I worked in a couple of closets yesterday trying to clear space for guests to put their clothes.  Some gift bags went in the recycling bin, others in the donation pile.  Ditto with books, class notes from college days, CD's, and general stuff.  I sent pictures to our girls asking, "Do you want this?"  But much remains!  I had planned to work just a bit then get to the quilting, but I was on a roll so sorted through things till it was time to make supper.  As I prepared lentil soup and cornbread, I watched my first-day-of-summer video.  Can you guess what it is?  Yes, that original summer blockbuster, "Jaws."

Father's Day weekend, 2016

The Hawaiian print tablecloth is finished and on the table.  It emerged from the dryer without the lumps seen with its previous backing fabric.  The time spent re-doing it was worth it.

The A's lost the game Saturday, but we enjoyed sitting in the stands sharing the event with friends.  Another friend, Dena, called during the game to invite us over for supper.  We accepted and ate delicious mixed-grill at their house.

Last night while we watched the NBA finals game 7 (the Warriors lost) I pin-basted the batik quilt and now must decide how to quilt it.  A diamond grid?  A large meander?  A small meander or loops?

This week I plan to continue cleaning out closets, recycling or donating things we no longer need.

A good week

Today is Friday.  The Hawaiian print tablecloth is quilted, waiting for the finished edges.  I bought the binding fabric for the batik quilt.  I had lunch with a couple of friends on Tuesday.  Randy and I went to see "Love & Friendship," based on a Jane Austen story.  The heroine, Lady Susan, was no Elizabeth Bennett!   Yesterday I bought a new cell phone.  My old TracFone is 2G, and by the end of the year AT&T will have upgraded their service in this area so my phone will no longer work. I bought another simple phone and transferred my phone number and remaining minutes from the old phone to the new one.  Last night as I worked on my new phone Randy watched "The Water Diviner," with Russell Crowe.  He was recording the Warriors' game 6 in the NBA Finals, but when we hadn't heard any fireworks from Oracle Arena by 9 we figured they had lost.  We may yet watch the game, though.  This morning I have done laundry and vacuumed; this afternoon I plan to sew.

I am reading Fourteen, by Stephen  Zanichkowsky, one of fourteen children. Subtitled "growing up alone in a crowd" this memoir is hard to read.  There was so much unhappiness in this family, lots of physical punishment, no affection shown by the parents to the children or by the children to each other, just over whelming fear.  I can't read too many pages at one sitting.

Tomorrow we will go to the A's game with some friends.

Monday, Monday

Today begins the last week of school.  My piano students will get some end-of-term note tests and general assessment so I can send progress reports to their parents.  They both plan to take some lessons this summer, but between their travels and mine there won't be many times we're both available.  I need to prepare a letter regarding summer lessons.  Yesterday I checked the school district website and discovered classes resume early this fall, on Monday, August 22.  I think that's the earliest I've seen for first day of school, two weeks before Labor Day.

Today I will take a walk, do laundry, record a song for Rod, work on the piano lesson things, and maybe buy the binding fabric when I go out to get milk. The flower tablecloth is waiting to be sandwiched and quilted.  There's always something to do!

Play-Doh, music and signing

Thursday night, while K was out of town, E and I finished the Charles Wysocki puzzle we'd been working on this week.  All three of our daughters still enjoy working jigsaw puzzles, and we all like the Americana style of Wysocki.  Figuring out a landscape scene is easier (and more fun for me) than an abstract drawing.  I wonder if Lynn has finished her puzzle with the ruffle edge pieces.

Friday I kept e home with me and E worked from home, so e had brief interactions with her mom all day.  After breakfast I played a Raffi album on my iPad, and we sang and danced.  Well, I sang along but we both had fun walking around the family room, swinging our arms, stamping our feet.  Then we brought her little table into the kitchen area; I wanted to let her play with her Play-Doh without having to worry about getting it on the carpet.  The set includes six small containers of the clay, each a different color, as well as some animal molds like cookie cutters and three rollers that put texture/patterns on the clay.  It was fun to see her play with this.  She was intrigued with making balls and rolling "snakes" we could form into letters.

Seeing e use sign language still surprises me, but it does help her communicate.  She can sign "help" when she needs assistance and "more/again" when she wants more food or another reading of a book.  One of my favorite signs is when she points to her wrist then to her mouth, "time to eat!"

I head home this afternoon, eager to see Randy, but I know I will miss this little family.  Fortunately I have tickets to return the end of the month!

What a girl!

The borders are sewn on the batik quilt.  I had hoped to prep the binding but there wasn't quite enough of the fabric I wanted to use.  So when I get home I'll go to Beverly's and buy a piece of dark blue or purple.

Yesterday I kept e home, and we had a grand time together.  We started with a short, maybe 20 minutes, walk along the lagoon/lake, seeing lots of yellow gold flowers (which she pointed to and said, "More") and a few ducks.  After cooling off a little when we got home, we went outside again, this time to the shaded back patio, and I put water in her water table so she could play.  It did not hold her attention for long, but that's OK.  We stayed inside the rest of the day reading, singing, building with blocks, and talking.  When she woke after a three-hour nap, we shared a bowl of Kix.  I put some in her mouth, then e would put some in mine.  She seems to really enjoy this.

She is growing so fast!  She walks confidently and even fast, almost running at times.  Her vocabulary is increasing.  Some words are not clearly pronounced, but she is consistent with the sounds and manages to get her meaning across most of the time.  This morning we practiced blinking...so cute.  Yes, she occasionally does get frustrated when told "No," and she may lie on the floor and cry, trying to convince you she should have more raisins or another cheese stick or whatever.  But usually she can be distracted with a question, like "Where are your shoes?" or "Shall we ride the horse?"

Today she went to daycare, but I think I may keep her home tomorrow.  It seems much easier for me to watch her here at her house than at ours.  One important advantage at our house is the temperature outside, but here she has her toys and more open space to run around.

In Phoenix...again

Aaahhh...I just spent some time outside, alternating between the pool and a deck chair, savoring the contrast between the cool water and the heat.  The pool has not yet reached a high enough temperature to feel uncomfortable, so it was fun to do some running in place and kicking while standing in the shallow (maybe 4 feet) end, which just happened to be in the shade.  I came back in the house before 10:00 to avoid more direct sun.

My flight late Sunday afternoon departed and arrived on time, and K was at the airport to greet me.  He thought e might already be in bed by the time we reached the house, but she wasn't.  So we played a bit before she went up to her crib.

Saturday I had cut the batik fabrics for the Bits and Pieces quilt and put them in my suitcase.  Yesterday I sewed them into 24 blocks, then arranged the blocks into 6 rows of 4 each, trying not to have the same fabrics touching, always a challenge with this pattern.  Then the blocks were sewn into rows and the rows together.  Today I plan to add the narrow inner border and wider outer border.

In case you wondered, the original reason for my trip was to help E while K traveled on business.  But his plans changed and he is home this week.  Since I was already in the mood for a visit, I came ahead but decided to treat it more like a vacation, not a childcare trip.  So I help a bit with her but have not kept e out of daycare...yet.  Maybe tomorrow.

Progress report 2

It's time to report again on my progress regarding my New Year's resolutions.  You can see them listed in the first January post.
1.  I continue to use my fabric stash.  So far this year I've finished three quilts, and two of them have gone to their new owners.  I've just begun two new quilts, one of which will be a gift.  The other may be a donation to the youth or nursing home ministry at Trinity.
2.  I am blogging regularly, though I often think of topics but don't write about them.
3.  I leave Sunday afternoon for another visit to e, meeting the goal of one visit each quarter.
4.  We have chosen a date to visit Liz and should have the tickets bought this weekend.
5.  I visited Sarah in May, so I've met this goal.
6.  I visited Dad and my sister in April, meeting that goal.
7.  My closet--a little bit has been accomplished there, but much more purging remains to be done.
8.  Sorry to say, my eating habits have not changed much.  I walk an average of 3.7 times a week, almost but not quite the 4 times a week I aim for.
9.  I'm doing well at spending time with friends.  Just last Saturday Linda and I had lunch at Marti's Place.  And I've been at Lynn's three times recently to work on a tricky jigsaw puzzle.

It's good to have these goals in mind.  When I feel like I'm not doing much, I can check my progress and see that I am indeed accomplishing something.

Paper, paper everywhere

Perhaps you have a "put it" place where you hide things when company is coming or when you just need to clear off the table for supper.  After her children left home, Randy's mother had a "put room."  I often grab an empty laundry basket for bigger pick-up jobs then take it to the garage where it stays till the guests leave.  But on a regular basis  I put papers on our roll top desk then close it up.  Once upon a time I actually sat at the desk and worked, but lately it's been covered with stacks of papers, as has the desk to the left of my computer in our office.  So last week I decided it was time to change that, to reclaim the dining room table for eating only and make space on my computer table.  I carried the piles of papers to the coffee table and began sorting.  Some things were immediately put into the blue recycling bin, others went into current file folders, and still others into new files.  Were there any surprises?  Well, to give you an idea of how long things have been accumulating, I found an issue of the San Francisco Chronicle from 21 Jan 2009 with the headline "The World Has Changed," Barack Obama's inauguration edition.  There were birthday cards from years ago.  Scraps of paper with titles of books I want to read and thought-provoking quotations.  Magazine articles to read.  Photographs of my step-mother's grandchildren and the quilt she made and other family members.  The stack of paper by the computer held mostly genealogy-related papers, family group sheets, articles about Kentucky, memorabilia like report cards, my 9th grade English class notebook, and more.

After several hours of work spread over several days I had taken care of nearly everything, at least enough to reclaim the coffee table and to vacuum the living room.  I really try not to let this accumulation happen, but somehow after a while the papers pile up again.  Maybe this time I will succeed in consistently keeping paper under control!