The Quiet After the Tornado

It has been a rough two weeks. My "flu" turned out to be pneumonia, and then, before I was recovered, I caught a cold from DH. Each day is a little better, though, and I'm finally able to sleep at night, propped up on pillows. I've made some progress on the Nurmilintu Shawl, though. 

I had trouble concentrating on the lace pattern when I was sick and ended up frogging back to the garter stitch section, but as my mind has cleared, it has become easier. I'm just starting the second lace section now. I'll put in a lifeline after the next row. The yarn is Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in "Swamp." It's hand-dyed.

We had some more snow. This snow is typical for Bend.

I'm so glad that if we had to get sick, at least we aren't contending with the usual Park City snow.

DBIL is recovering well from his surgery. DH took him to the doctor on Friday, and he has been released from care. He can drive himself now, so that's good. 

You may remember that we replaced all our major kitchen appliances during the Black Friday sale at Lowe's. The stove was found to have three rivets missing, which caused the drawer to hang down on the right side.

It was still useable for cooking, but we couldn't use the drawer. DH taped the drawer in place, and Lowe's ordered us a new one, which was delivered on Saturday.

The first one had some scuffs on the control panel, too. This one is virtually pristine. Good for Lowe's. They made devoted customers out of us.

The first thing we did when it arrived was check the drawer, which functions perfectly.

DH picked up some stainless cleaner, and I cleaned the dishwasher with it yesterday.

When we took out the old dishwasher, we discovered some wires had been chewed through by mice. One of the wires was for the dishwasher and the other went to the outlet at the end of the breakfast bar. If some motion in the house had caused them to touch, we could have had a fire. The electrician fixed the wires, and right after Christmas, the plumber came and installed the dishwasher, so we were able to use the dishwasher before everyone left.

I didn't really want stainless appliances, but you have to pay extra for white now, and the microwave, which we haven't replaced, is stainless, so it was expedient. The stainless shows fingerprints, which I don't like, but it is what it is, and they are otherwise nice-looking appliances. The main thing is, they work well.

I managed to do a photo shoot for Friday's story. Cooking Lesson gives children a basic overview of nutrition. Billy and Mariah come into the kitchen, where Jolena is cooking. They pepper her with questions about what you have to know when you cook for others.

What's on my needles: Still the Nurmilintu Shawl.  

What's on my Sparrow 15: Standing by for costumes for my characters.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Cooking Lesson. Jolena is in the kitchen. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, and then listened to The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz. Now I'm starting Fear by Bob Woodward. My DBIL has been reading it. He says it's good.

What's in my wine glass: Nothing right now. I've lost my taste for wine. It will come back, I'm sure.

What's my tip of the week: A pneumonia shot won't keep you from getting pneumonia, because it doesn't cover all the bacteria and viruses that can cause it. However, it can prevent many strains of pneumonia and, if you do get it, you are likely to recover faster.

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.

Christmas Greetings!

If you look carefully, you can see the wreath on my front door.

My house is still in turmoil. However, the broken-down boxes and the packing materials that are no longer needed have gone on to a new home to be used again, thanks to the Redmond Online Yard Sale group on Facebook.

Our trials have continued, though. We managed to get the stove hooked up. The plumber gave us a senior discount, which was nice. We are repeat customers for him, because he put in the gas to our laundry room for our dryer. However, when we took all the tape off the stove, we found this:

Oops! It appeared to be missing three screws, but when the people from Lowe's came out to look, they said there were three rivets missing. They can't order just the drawer, so we are getting another new stove. It will take two to three weeks, as this one did. However, good people, Lowe's.

We couldn't find an electrician to fix our wires, so DH wrapped the two wires with electrical tape, so we wouldn't have a fire.

Our home warranty was able to find us an electrician, and he came on Saturday and fixed it good as new. However, a new problem emerged. The fitting wanted to cross-thread, though, so, after several hours of struggle, DH gave up and decided to call a plumber. I have 10 people in the house, and the hot water is turned off to the kitchen. I'm carrying water from the powder room to wash dishes. And it's Christmas Eve. I have lot's of adult help, though, so that's fine.

This week Billy finally got his professional haircut. Here he is, with my (and now his) stylist, Sylvia Burger at Bella Hair Salon in Bend, Oregon. (She does a great job on me, too.)

Here he is at home, after it had dried.

And the back:

It was a challenge, because the rooted hair gives him cowlicks all over. The back couldn't be cut too short, or it would stick straight out. I think she did a fantastic job. The haircut will enter into the first story in January.

I had to tidy up the fiber studio, so it could be used by family as a bedroom this week. I discovered it was a great place to wrap packages.

There should be plenty of room on the floor for an inflatable mattress, because we haven't set up the work table yet.

The pups went to the groomer on Wednesday, so I was able to get a nice photo of them in front of the tree. (That was before I started wrapping packages.)

My little angels wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, joyeux Noël, hyvää joulua, vrolijk kerstfeest, buon Natale, feliz Navidad, selamat hari natal, щасливого Різдва, счастливого Рождества, عيد ميلاد سعيد, and the same in Doll Language, which is a very silent language, something like telepathy. If you listen carefully with your mind, you will hear them.

What's on my needles: Still the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, the same as the Stavanger, but with a different chart.  

What's on my Sparrow 15: Christmas wrap. It's a great surface for holding tape, scissors, ribbons and paper.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Santa Visits. This week's story is Santa and why he gives children gifts. Next week the dolls will share their presents with you. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, no listening this week. I'm listening to Christmas/holiday music.

What's in my wine glass: Lar de Oro Tempranillo Syrah. It's from Spain. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: When you buy appliances, it's probably cheaper in the long run to pay them to install them.

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.

The Saga Continues

My "Peggy's Sistine Chapel" is finally on the wall.

It's in a place where it can be admired from afar. We joked that it really should have been hung from the ceiling, but it was hard enough to get it up where it is. Our DDIL2 sent a relative who lives here to our place with a fancy ladder to put it up for us. It makes my heart sing to see it there. It's really upside down, but I planned on the panel with the lighter background to go away from the windows in our old place when I made it, and the windows were on the right, so it hangs this way, and I think it's fine.

I managed to get the other two big quilts up. This was the one I made from about half of the Keepsake Quilting Millennium Quilt Kit given me by a friend. There were 2,000 4" squares. I made half-square triangles with them and just played until I found a design I liked. You can tell I like symmetrical, not being symmetrical myself.

I thought I was very clever, and as soon as it was done, I received a quilting magazine in the mail with the same quilt (different fabrics, of course), made in 1880. I wonder if that quilt maker was playing with my mind from the next world. This one can be seen at the top of the stairs as soon as you walk in the front door.

The orange and white quilt is a Devil's Claw block. I copied it from an antique quilt belonging to a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.


Finally, my Friendship Star quilt went up between the door to my fiber studio and the door to the guest room. The laundry room door is right across from it, so I see it every time I come out of the laundry.

Each quilt is hung the same way as my Pine Burr quilt: I made two sleeves, each slightly shorter than half the width of the quilt and 8" wide after hemming each end. I folded the strips of fabric in half lengthwise and sewed them to the top of the quilt under the binding, which required undoing the top binding, since I hadn't thought to do it as the quilts were being made. We bought 8' battens from the lumber yard and cut each one at least 6" longer than the width of the quilt it would be used to hang. I put a nail about 3" down from the ceiling where I wanted the middle of the quilt to be. I measured exactly how far down from the ceiling the nail ended up, and then put two more nails the same distance from the ceiling where the batten would stick out on each side. So that's done!

I needed pajamas for this week's story, so I had to do some sewing for the latest additions to the vinyl family. I finished the top to Jolena's pajamas first. I had one sleeve on. She has been sleeping in a camisole for a top, but it's getting chilly, and the story will include a scene about Christmas Eve. 

Mariah also had pajama pants and a camisole top, but no real PJ top. I found the rest of the lime green flannel I used for the pants.

The top is based on Little Abbee's Slumber Party PJs, but with alterations for Götz Happy Kidz. The pants are from my pattern. (This is Mariah's first Christmas, and she has never seen a Christmas tree before.

For Billy, I wanted something a little more masculine. I used fabric taken from some girls' leggings in cotton and lycra. I made the pants from the same pattern, but I made the legs 1/2" shorter, so I could add a 1/2" cuff. I had to invent the top. I used some other patterns of mine, adjusted for opening in the back and having cuffs on the sleeves and a band around the neck. It was hard sewing on dark navy fabric, because I don't yet have very good lighting in my fiber studio, but once I got things under the light of my EverSewn Sparrow 15 (which I have come to adore) I was able to see well enough to sew. I needed two more sleep masks. Mariah got the same kind as the other girls, but Billy chose to eschew the lace trim and voted for fold-over elastic in dark navy to sort of go with his PJs.

The cuffs at the ankles and wrists, as well as the neck band, don't really show up very well because the fabric is so dark.

The dark thundercloud that has accompanied us on this move has not left us yet, but it proved to have a silver lining. Our new appliances were delivered on Sunday, so Saturday night, we got everything ready. When we pulled out the stove, we found mouse traps behind it. Not a good sign, but we've had mice before, so other than the "oh, ick!" response, we weren't too perturbed. What we found when we pulled out the dishwasher was much more disturbing.

What you're looking at (besides the dirt and dust) is live electrical wires chewed down to the actual wire by a mouse or mice. I'm surprised there was no mouse body or skeleton right at that spot. Maybe the power was turned off at the time. However, after the initial reaction of disgust, we realized how lucky we had been. This kind of damage could have started a fire, even if we hadn't been using the dishwasher. The wire is going to have to be replaced, which creates a lot of complications for the installation. However, we could very well have had a fire sometime in the near future, which was avoided because we chose to replace the appliances. The way I see it, the appliances just paid for themselves. At least the dishwasher did. What a close call!

Sunday morning we unloaded the freezer section of the old fridge and put all of the frozen food into the big freezer out in the garage. About lunch time, we unloaded the refrigerator section and put all of the cold food in ice chests, which we placed where they would be out of the way. Our friends from Lowe's came right at 2:00 PM. They removed the old appliances, putting the stove and fridge in the garage, because we hope to donate them, and the dishwasher in their truck. Then they brought in the new appliances.

The dishwasher and range are still not hooked up. DH had hoped to do that himself, but the part needed to hook up the gas is no longer available(!) and we need an electrician.  The men from Lowe's hooked up the fridge, though. It has an ice maker but no dispenser, our choice because we wanted to maximize the space in the refrigerator section. So here it is in all its glory:

I would have preferred white, but now white appliances cost more than stainless, and the almost-new microwave is stainless, so the choice was really out of my hands.

Here's a scene from last Friday's story, just to show we're in the Christmas spirit here, in spite of the turmoil.

Santa will be seen in this week's story.

What's on my needles: Still the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, the same as the Stavanger, but with a different chart. A few more rows finished on the sleeves.

What's on my Sparrow 15: The quilt sleeves for hanging quilts are done, so now on to costumes for my characters. Now that they all have their sleepwear (PJs and sleep masks), I have some other clothes cut out and ready to sew.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.


What's in The Doll's Storybook: Caroling and Dreaming. This week's story will be about Santa and why he gives children gifts. The dolls have a theory. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, but only one more chapter, and Christmas/holiday music.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards California Red Blend 2015 again. Very nice, and great value.

What's my tip of the week: If you have a new item that was packed with styrofoam and some of the little bits cling to something you don't want to throw away (floor, windows, shelves, pets, children, etc.) you can get them up quickly with one of those pet-hair rollers. The little bits seem more attracted to the roller than to whatever they've been clinging to.

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.

Progress!

The first of the big wall quilts is up!

The clock in the corner and a couple of pictures still need to be mounted on the walls, but the living room is almost done.

The mantle quilt is up, too, although the rest of the family room isn't ready for prime time yet. That will take a while, especially because the rail that keeps people from falling over into the family room still needs to be reinstalled. (They took it out to put down hardwood flooring, which is now showing a lot of wear, and never put it back. Not to code!) We have the rail propped up with boxes on one side, and a table on the other.

You may remember we had some trouble with the Arrow Mod Sewing Cabinet. Someone from the company talked us through making the corrections, and we were able to find a YouTube video that described how to make the airlift go up and down. (It turns out, they were serious about using WD-40 on all the moving parts.)  The link they had on the website for adjusting the airlift to the right height for my machine went to the same video for the other kind of cabinet, but I found the correct video on YouTube and sent them an email with the corrected link.

We also had trouble getting the doors to slide into the slot provided for them. That was partly due to the thick carpeting, but also the door hinges needed some adjustment.

I used my lovely Eversewn Sparrow15 sewing machine to sew a couple of sleeves (split in the middle) under the binding of the Pine Burr quilt and will do the same for the others.

Here's how I did it: I removed the hand stitching on the back of the binding of the side I wanted to go on top. I cut two rectangles out of some inexpensive muslin, 8" X half the width of the quilt, left the selvedge edge but hemmed the raw-edge ends under. Then I folded each strip in half lengthwise to form a 4" deep sleeve, and pressed. I pinned them to the back of the quilt with the raw edges even with the seam allowance of the binding, putting the pins in on the right side. Then I sewed over the same seam as for the binding with the right side up, as exactly as possible over the original stitching. Finally, I sewed the binding back in place by hand and sewed the bottom of the sleeve to the backing, also by hand. I'm using wooden battens for most of the quilts, although curtain rods will work just as well; they just stick out from the wall more. The wooden battens are 1/4" thick and 1 1/4" wide. The 8' length was fine for the 88" X 88" Pine Burr quilt for the living room. The battens will bend some, but when you place them flat against the wall, they will hold the quilt. I put a nail where I wanted the middle of the quilt to be, about where the bottom of the batten would be with the quit in place. I measured the same distance down from the ceiling and put another nail the same distance from the ceiling, but half the width of the quilt away from the first nail. Then I repeated for the other side, so I had three nails, one 44" from the one on the left end and the other 88" from that nail. I put the space between the two sleeves, where the batten is exposed, on the middle nail, then flattened the batten against the wall and wrestled it onto the side nails, one at a time. I had to get up on a ladder to do this. Finally, I adjusted how much batten was sticking out on each side by pushing on the longer side while pulling the quilt and its sleeve toward myself.

The other battens will have to be trimmed for the smaller quilts. I had to move my sewing table away from the wall a bit, to allow the quilt to hang over as I was sewing. I usually set up a folding tray table to the left of where I'm sitting, to hold the weight of the quilt. The folding tray tables are still buried in the garage, so I coped. I have plans to get a nice desk chair with no arms, so I can raise my seat a bit to accommodate my diminutive height. I will also need a plastic chair mat.

I thought I had lost my bobbins for the Sparrow. We found them when I emptied the sewing table so DH would work on it.

I finally settled on a prefinished, three-drawer kitchen base cabinet from Lowe's as a base for my cutting surface. The top (brought with me from Utah) is 3/4" thick frosted plexiglas, so it doubles as a light table, with two under-cabinet lights upside down in the top drawer for light. The other two drawers will be good storage. It's 24" wide and just under 24" deep. It will be just under 36" high with the plexiglas top. I have a cutting mat that is 24" X 36", just the size of the top. The top will hang over on both sides, one side more than the other. I may have to put some kind of support under the end that hangs over more. There is a heater vent on that side of the room that limits where I can put it. Here's a photo from the website.

I don't know how I'm going to deal with the toe kick. It was very expensive to buy a new toe kick, because it comes much longer than the size of the cabinet, and you have to buy the whole thing. I might be able to find someone with a small piece left over. If not, I may just leave it, unless I can think of a way to cover it up. The space at the bottom for the toe kick will come in handy, though. I have big feet.

Thursday morning, I was in the mood to make oat bran cinnamon rolls, which pleased DH. We had a coupon for 10% off our entire purchase at Lowe's that would expire at midnight on Thursday, so late Thursday morning DH and I set out for the store to order, as they only had the 18" cabinets in stock. We wanted to buy the battens for the quilts, and DH wanted to get a large tarp to cover the trailer. We had to go through the appliance department, where his eye was caught by a dishwasher, and my eyes drifted longingly to the gas ranges. We had planned on replacing our kitchen appliances eventually. The dishwasher, which is very old and white, works well, but the way the racks are laid out, it won't hold many dishes. (I should say here that my preferred color for appliances is white, but these days white often means plastic handles and white appliances with a lot of useful features are hard to find. DH prefers stainless steel, which is a logical choice anyway, because the microwave over the stove is stainless.) The refrigerator we have is stainless steel, as is the free-standing range. The refrigerator has a broken foot and is missing a freezer shelf. The side-by-side layout makes digging around inside difficult, like looking through a brightly lit cave. Don't get me started on the stove! Well, since you ask, the oven works, but the temperature is unreliable. The burners work, but they have been cleaned so often the stove looks as if it had been given to Methuselah at his mother's baby shower. What I really dislike more than anything is the arrow-up or arrow-down way of setting the oven temperature. I like to keep food warm at 170º, and you have to stand there a long time before that temperature shows up on the display. I'd rather punch in the numbers.

You probably can see where this is leading. Lowe's was having a big sale, and we learned that the 10% off coupon would apply to our entire order, even items on sale. We had to go home and measure the space allotted to each appliance. The refrigerator is the worst, because it's a skinny space, and there's no way to make it bigger without knocking out cabinets, granite countertop, etc. DH got to choose the fridge, because he had more requirements he considered essential. I chose the dishwasher and stove, because I suggested that he let me do that. This is what started our day and what we are ending up with.

We learned from another customer in the store that getting service on appliances not made in the US requires bringing in someone from the other side of the mountains and is expensive. Local appliance-repair people can work on the US companies' products. The GE had a skinny fridge (with ice maker down in the freezer section, where we don't need as much space) and a range and dishwasher with features I liked.

Boom! Lowe's got a lot of money from us for one day, but we saved a bunch. The cabinet will be delivered to the store, probably sometime this week. I should be able to fit it in the back of the car. The appliances are supposed to arrive on December 20th. They will install the fridge (plug it in and hook up the water) for free, but were going to charge for hooking up the dishwasher and gas stove. DH will get his brother to help.

I think I'll make those rolls again soon.

Other things are getting done. In our home in Summit Park the ceiling in our bedroom was too low for the mosquito-netting frame, with the added complication of a much-needed ceiling fan. (We didn't have much of a mosquito problem in Utah and don't expect to have much of one here, but we do have the mosquito netting, which we brought back from Indonesia with the bed.) DH repaired the post that had been broken off by the movers, and after the glue had set, we wrestled the mosquito-netting frame onto the posts. 

We still have a lot to do in our bedroom and bathroom, but downstairs and our respective work areas are a priority. 

Saturday, someone came by and paid us $15 for Miss Havisham's (she of the Dickens novel) dust-catching chandelier. That brought the net cost of the replacement down to $35 with the Black Friday sale price. The young woman who came and bought it said it was for her sister who had her dining room decorated in French Provincial, and this would be perfect. She had sent her my photo of it. Not my taste, but I'm glad someone can use it. Miss Havisham's spider, evicted from the dusty relic, has found the new chandelier. If I can catch the little guy/gal, he/she will have to go live outside.

I had finished the body of the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, so I finally CO Saturday for the sleeves. I'm doing them together, in the round, with steeks between them. That will require a seam, but I can match the stripes without a jog that way, and the cuff will be neater. Here's the body. There are cats at the top and fish swim around it at the bottom.

The Doll's Storybook had a new episode on Friday, "You Are Special," where Billy explores the need for new purpose, now that he has rid himself of his girly clothes and hair. I started right away on the special Hanukkah story, where Charlotte shares her special holiday with her non-Jewish friends.

I wanted to get our wonderful son-in-law to look it over for any errors or omissions I might have made. The story is intended to explain Hanukkah to children. Our daughter and her family celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. They will be here for Christmas.

In related news, this is the view from our bedroom window. Our neighbors really like to decorate. The black silhouette to the right is our huge fir tree, undecorated, as it will probably have to remain. We would need a cherry picker to reach the top.

What's on my needles: Back to the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, the same as the Stavanger, but with a different chart.  

What's on my Sparrow 15: Sleeves for hanging quilts.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: You Are Special. This week's story will be about Hanukkah. Charlotte explains her rituals to the other dolls. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen, but I've taken a break from it to listen to Rachel Maddow's Bag Man podcast, relating the history of how Spiro Agnew fell into disgrace and had to resign as vice president. I was around when this happened, but new details are only just now becoming available.

What's in my wine glass: Black Box Premium Wines California Red Blend. It says on the box, "Stays fresh for six weeks after opening." We wouldn't know. It runs out long before that.

What's my tip of the week: When you're making a quilt, if there is any chance you will ever hang it on the wall, a simple sleeve is easier to add as you put the binding on. You can use the same fabric as the backing, so it won't be obvious if you use it on the bed or as a lap quilt.

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.