A Week of Events

There wasn't a lot of fiber fun this week, but I managed to finish one washcloth to go to a military troop stationed in Africa....

....and have a good start on another one.

I plan to wash them before sending them, as I've found that the dye in cotton yarn often runs.

The "Sunshine in the Rain" shawl is blocked and ready to wear. It was pretty easy to block, because it has holes in all the right places to line up to block evenly.

It took about 24 hours to dry.

We had our time taken up during the week with filling out paperwork to apply for a loan to refinance our house so we could get a better interest rate and finish the improvements and repairs. One glitch was the "Peggy-Margaret thing," as it has come to be known.

Back in the day, when I applied for my Social Security card, I was allowed to use "Peggy" although my birth certificate, passport, voter registration and driver's license were all issued to "Margaret." That was 1961. There was no problem at all until a few years ago when Utah passed a law that mandated that the name on your Social Security had to match your driver's license. By then, I was already receiving Social Security and didn't want to mess that up. I also didn't see why I had to change my name legally to Peggy, so I fought it. My state representative was able to get DMV to waive the issue. When I renewed, the same thing came up. I had a new state representative, who also was able to smooth the way for me to renew.

When we moved to Oregon, I was given the choice of which name I wanted on the license, but they recommended using Margaret, because that was what was on my passport, just in case I needed the additional identification for traveling overseas. So all my adult life (from 18 on), Peggy worked, received paychecks and paid income tax, while Margaret drove, voted, traveled overseas and gave birth to three children. With this refinance, the lender decided they wanted to have proof that I was both Peggy and Margaret, so I had to try to find the scanned copy of the letter I received from the state of Utah explaining the problem and the emails between my state representative, the person at the DMV and myself. Finding all that was a headache and took time, but I was finally able to produce them. It resulted in one more document for me to sign, too, but all's well.

On a lighter note, Friday's story in The Doll's Storybook was about a cat Mandy brought home from school and Emil's surprising ability. Here she is, taking off her coat after bringing the cat home in a box.

And here's the cat.

I've been trying to get permission from the manufacturer of the dolls (Götz Puppenmanufaktur Intl., a German company) to use my photos of the dolls in a printed book. I had received some legal advice that if I could document that I tried to get their permission and they didn't respond to my inquiry, they would have a hard time suing me if I went ahead and did it, so when they didn't respond to several emails, I sent them a registered letter, thinking that would be my documentation.

That was August 28th. On September 15th my letter arrived in Frankfurt, but then tracking only said it was en route to its destination. There was no change as of Wednesday, when I went to the post office to see if they could help me with tracking. The local post office only had access to the same information I had, but gave me a number I could call to find out what to do. I was busy with other stuff (see above) so it was Friday before I called. The representative I talked to on the phone explained how to put in an inquiry online. That would start the process of getting in touch with Deutsche Post to find out where my letter went. I spent half the day trying to file the online form.

After finishing with USPS online, I checked my email messages and discovered I had an email from Götz. In it, they said that they were delighted to give me permission, and that the wording I am using in my blog post explaining that I'm not affiliated with them and giving them credit for designing and producing the dolls was perfect for a published book or books, which meant they had looked at my stories. The next step will be to see if an organization that deals with pediatric cancer wants to get involved up front, if not, I'll have to self-publish on my own, but at least I can move ahead with the project. I'm so excited!

The week involved a lot of the H-word toward the end, because we have company coming this morning for coffee and pulla, and we had to clean the house. It needed cleaning anyway, because the appraiser will come sometime this week.

We went out Tuesday evening for a scotch-tasting party. We had 10 people. There is way too much to know about whiskey, but I could taste the difference, and they were all good. I found out that after you sniff the whiskey "neat," which means without mixing anything with it, you should add a few drops of water before tasting.

We watched this video together, just for fun.

The host had a small house, but she had a Steinway grand piano in her living room. she played a little bit for us.

It was fun having a small group in a casual setting. We got acquainted with everyone and had a nice time. It snowed when we left to go home. They are already planning another one, and we will be going.

We managed to continue our two-mile walks every day, in spite of the busy week, which included getting the dogs groomed.

It makes me tired, just re-reading all this! I hope to get in some fiber fun this week, and certainly the washcloths will continue.

What's on my needles: Washcloths for Africa

What's on my sewing machine: Put away for now.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Marmalade." Mandy comes home with a surprise.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I stopped listening to A Scandal in Battersea by Mercedes Lackey to listen to How To Start a Revolution, a nonfiction book by Lauren Duca. The author is a young journalist and award-winning columnist at "Teen Vogue." The book made me laugh and cry at times. She talks about the new political awakening of millennials and other young people, and how they can change the world for the better peacefully. I can recommend it.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards California Red Blend, 2016 vintage. One of our staple wines.

What's my tip of the week: If you have bare floors meeting wall-to-wall carpeting, you can sweep the dust and dirt from the floors onto the carpeting and then vacuum the carpet, rather than sweeping into a dustpan. Obviously, you would only want to do this if you planned to vacuum the carpeting right after sweeping. Otherwise, you will be tracking the dirt and dust back onto the floor. (It's good to pick up any larger objects, such as books, newspapers, dog toys, balls of yarn, etc., first, though.)

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Scenes from Sisters

You may know that the second Saturday in July is the Sisters Quilt Show. Since we live so close, we decided to go. I decided to take Veronika with me to get some photos, because she's a quilter, too. (She sat inside my purse most of the time.)

There was a long line of cars going into town. We finally found a place to park in the high school parking lot, which is about 1/2 mile from town. Quilts are hung inside and out. It was quite breezy, so there was a lot of flapping around. The sun was almost straight overhead for some of the shots, so some of the photos are partially backlit. I did my best. Here are some scenes from the show:

We stopped in at the Chamber of Commerce, because DH was stung by a bee on his hand and was also looking for a rest room. They assured us they had no bees, so that bee must have been a tourist. (They had a nice rest room, but there were port-a-potties all over town.)

While we were waiting for DH to use the rest room, Veronika decided she wanted her photo taken in front of this quilt.

(She shouldn't have had her shoes on the furniture, but she wanted to get close, and she insisted she had cleaned her shoes while in my purse. I might need to clean my purse.) There were other interesting quilts inside the building.

Of course, most of the quilts were outside.

Veronika wanted her photo taken with this quilt, so everyone would know she had attended. You can't tell, but she had to work to keep upright with the strong breeze.

The quilts seemed everywhere.

We took a break for lunch, which was also in my purse. We found a grassy place to sit, and Veronika came out again to eat with us. I let her sit on my new T-shirt, so she wouldn't get her slacks dirty.

There were activities for nonquilting family members of quilters.

It was like attending a farmers' market or a fair. There were lots of booths selling things and promoting their wares.

This place had live music.

Again, everywhere you looked, there were quilts on display.

We had some other business in town besides looking at all the lovely quilts. A few weeks ago, on our way north to visit the kids, we dropped our clock off at the clock repair shop in Sisters. It hadn't been working since the move, so we hoped to get it repaired. We took it into Beacham's Clockmaking and Repairs. 

It wasn't easy to find it among all the quilts.

Of course, there were quilts hanging in the shop, but also lots of clocks. (That's our clock, up high on the wall and second in from the right.)

 

We took a look around the shop while waiting to find out if the clock was ready.  It was.

When we found out our clock was ready to go home, we decided that DH should go get the car and try to find a closer parking space. While he was doing that, I went into the Stitchin' Post, which is in the same block as the clock repair shop, but just around the corner.

That was the most crowded place in town.

I went around and looked at everything. Many other people were doing that, too.

Of course, quilts from the show were hanging in the shop, too.

I wanted to get some photos of Veronika in her favorite kind of establishment, possibly for a future story. I let her pick out some fabric for a new dress. Of course, as a fellow quilter, she had to have the one with scissors all over it.

She wanted to watch while our fabric was cut. She told the nice lady that no, she isn't an American Girl doll, she's a Götz, but she thinks that American Girls are pretty, too, they just can't lie down and watch the clouds, because their eyes close.

While we were waiting to pay (there was a line), we looked around the knitting part of the store.

The line moved quickly, because they were very well organized. Veronika waited patiently for our bill to be rung up, but she couldn't stop looking around. She almost forgot to take my credit card and the fabric. I had to give her a nudge, because other people were waiting, and DH had just arrived, having moved the car to a closer spot.

We went around to the clock repair shop, found a close parking space, and Veronika and I were assigned the task to keep someone from taking it, while DH went to get the car, now parked a block away. By then, people were leaving, so it was easy to keep the space free.

We were all worn out, so we headed home. It was much faster without the line of traffic.

Also this week was some spinning. I finished about half of the fiber.

I'm well into the second bobbin. I will ply the two singles together when I get it done.

I managed to walk 2 miles a day every day this week except Saturday, when we only went 1 1/4 miles, because we needed to leave to go to Sisters.

Plans for this week include more spinning, and preparations for the next story.
What's on my needles: Coastal Skies Shawl, a few more rows done (mostly while driving to Sisters and back).

What's on my sewing machine: Summer clothes for the cast of The Doll's Storybook.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. A few more inches finished.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Fuzzy Town––A Play.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Flirt by M. C. Beaton, then listened to The Player: Rockliffe, Volume 3, by Stella Riley. Now listening to Rake's Progress by Marion Chesney.

What's in my wine glass: Still the Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon. The box has lasted a long time. It must be like the "warm fuzzies" in this week's story.

What's my tip of the week: I learned from our veterinarian that baby oil or mineral oil will remove pitch from in between a dog's toes. Pitch will pick up gravel, pine needles and other debris, making walking uncomfortable for a dog.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.