Some Thoughts on Veteran's Day

I have a little problem with the military.  Oh I know the importance of the military.  I understand that a strong show of power is important to keep our country safe and secure.  That's not my problem.  And I have a great respect for all the men and women who have been in the military, fighting for my freedom to say what I want and do about anything I want.  I thank you all. 

My dad was a sailor.  He was drafted into the Army and quickly joined the Navy.  He and Mom were married already and she followed him to New Orleans, where he was stationed.  Like many men in the military, he learned skills he could use during peacetime.  For him, it was what became his favorite trade: metal shop skills.  He later became an electrician, but his love of working with metals remained.  He always said if he didn't have to think about supporting his family, he would work in a metal shop.  But alas, he had two daughters and a wife.  Time to bring home the bacon.

Dad and Pat and me, 1952

So, I guess I don't really have a problem with the military.  It is important and I am thankful for all the men and women who have served our country.  No, it's not a problem with the military but it is a problem with war.  Yeah, that's it.  I have a real problem with war.  

In today's paper, a comic strip called Red and Rover had the little boy, Red, hugging his dad, thanking him for what he has done for his country.  And then he continued to hang on and his father told him he could let go.  The little boy said no because he didn't want him to go off to war again.

 

Lorraine Schneider's 1967 flower-power poster, saying, ''war is not healthy for children and other living things," came to mind as I read that comic strip.  I thought about the little boy, then to all the little boys and girls who's fathers or mothers were not home because they were in another country, defending my freedom.  And while I knew that war was not healthy for living things, I had not thought as much about the impact a parent's service had on the children and the family left behind.

So thank you so much for the great sacrifice you  made in my honor, all of you.  Mothers and fathers and children and grandparents and sisters and brothers and neighbors and all of us.  Thank you so very much.

peace~~~

A Porch With a View

I completed my mosaic windows. The grouting was as much work as the piecing :)  Not really, but the grouting took me about three hours, the last hour with help from my instructor.  And then more little work when I got home.  I know I said I wasn't going to do any more mosaic work on the dining room table, but alas *sheepish grin* sand and dirt all over the place.
 

Grouting mine

Doug and I went to the hardware store to pick up the necessary items to hang it from the porch.  We bought square aluminum tubing to cross the top and the bottom of both windows, "L" brackets to reinforce the tubing, and hook-eyes for the chain.  I wanted to buy these cool knobs but they had to be special ordered.  So I will check on Amazon and/or someplace online.  They will be separated by about two inches as they hang, bound together to avoid the banging in the wind, and off to the narrow side of the porch.  I will be able to see a corner of them when I sew.  I always wanted a chained porch swing there also...maybe I can finally find one I want.  That would look cool.

Here is the mosaic class: 

The class on grout-day

 
 




 





Heading back down to my mom's for a week or so.  I did finish all the school clothing for Kaity and a quilt top for a little boy who's family lost everything in a house fire.  The skirt and top for me will have to wait.

peace~~~

A Budding Model

I was finally able to have my grandgirl try on the most recently finished blouse.  Looking good!  The elastic waist and the length turned out well for her.  Of course, she is a goofball :)  She has been modeling what I have made for her since she was a little girl.  She used to be spontaneous and now she is more self-conscious.  She also no longer smiles showing teeth.  She used to stand on the dining room table to model... Now she would crack her head on the 10 foot ceiling!

That's two finished items.  Now to make the dress.  This dress is super easy and very cute.  The front is form-fitting and the back of the bodice shapes a heart (Simplicity 1382).  Before I could put in the zipper, I wanted to make sure the size was right.

I made it a size larger than usual...so I didn't want it to be too large.  I basted the side seams to the bodice and basted the waist band.  I also basted the back seam on the skirt.  I didn't want to have to take out multiple seams.  So I brought it to her house in two pieces and pinned the skirt to the top while she had it on.  Too large?  NO!  I have to make the bodice side seams smaller than usual and lengthen the waste band by an inch and let out the skirt a bit.  Thank goodness I didn't make it a size smaller!  :)  

While I had it all together, I pinned up the hem for length.  Her school (junior high!  My little grandgirl is starting junior high!) has a dress code that skirts must be no shorter than finger-tips.  So we measured the tips.

I don't usually take pictures of Kaity in her clothes until they are completed but these pictures turned out so well I thought I'd give a sneak peek.  I will complete this dress tomorrow and cut out the last top.  Onward!

peace~~~

Cuts on My Fingers and Shards in My Toes, Oh My

Added the sun and sunbeams

I have been working diligently on my mosaic windows.  I had planned to sew more, quilt more, and when possible, spend time on the mosaic project.  But there the windows where on the dining room table, just mocking me, teasing me, calling to me to find a good piece of glass.  Guess I needed a diversion and these two windows were the perfect answer. 

I started working on this project in the dining room, on the dining room table.  I did not think this through very well.  This meant that I could not cut out the two sewing projects for my grandgirl because the table was half-full.  And this meant I could not sandwich the final unfinished quilt top.  All I could do is work on the mosaic.  Good planning!  Another problem of using the dining room table is that little tiny pieces of glass shards went sneaking around the table top, the floor, the chair.  I tried to contain then, but they are sneaky.  And of course I didn't think to Swiffer the floor often...so I ended up wearing bandaids on the bottom of my feet, Kleenex wrapped around my fingers, and hoping the dog and cats missed the shards.  Then I got smart and used the Swiffer every half hour or so.  Only took me four days to figure that out ;)

Screwed up the orange and
added the beads to the hills

 The first glass I bought for the background wasn't appealing to me, so I had to go back to the glass store to buy new.  While waiting to head out, I decided to add the sun and the sunbeams.  I liked how they turned out, except the one orange on the left.  It needed to be wider.  So I removed that piece and added more orange.  And then I realized that the one piece of orange glass on the right was just too solid.  This was mosaic, not stained glass.  So I decided to take that big hunk out and snip it in two for a good grout line.  So then for the life of me I could NOT get the piece back together right.  What happened to the time/space contingency??  So I broke it up more...still okay...and realized it was not too small with lots of smaller pieces and OH NO!  I was out of orange!  So I bits and pieced it together and I really am not happy with it.  But I kept going...added some beads along the hilltops and some little flower beads in the meadows. 

And then it became time to fill in the background.  I really liked the green--more sheer with a tiny bit of texture to it.  It filled in behind the flowers quite nicely, with bricks of glass making it a wall of grass.

Background looking good

 I wanted to finish this project by Monday so I could get started on the dress for my grandgirl.  I had promised...  So I would work for a few hours, take a break, work for a few more.  It was late evening before I was finished.  Just in time to sit an watch a short program with Doug before time for upstairs.  I will grout it on Saturday, let it dry and figure out how to install it out on the porch so the sun can shine through it and I can see it while I sew.

I like the general look of the piece with a few exceptions.  I am not happy with the sunbeams in general.  But I do like the flowers and the hills and meadow.  I like that it generally turned out as I pictured it.  I like the color combos, the texture of the beads and the glass.  I especially like my big daisy and the little yellow daisy beside it :) 

Finished, to be grouted Saturday

Next mosaic project: back to tiles.  Maybe give the concrete birdbath a pretty top.  But I will definitely make it outside rather than on the dining room table!

peace~~~

A Work in Progress

I have been making my grandgirl clothes since she was three months old.  When she was three and a half, I made her three outfits as Christmas gifts.  By the time she opened the third box, she looked at me and said, "I hope it not clothes again!"  Since I always hated getting clothing for a gift, I promised to never give her anything like that again as a gift (unless she asked for it).  And she hated the top that went with the pants, saying it made her look like a clown (remember this fashionista was only three!), so I promised to take her with me to buy both the patterns and fabric.  It has worked out fine.


Every year since kindergarten, I have made her five outfits in the fall for school.  As she ages, the clothes she wants have become a bit more complicated, as have our lives.  So I don't always get the tops and dresses and skirts completed in time for school.  This year is no different.  I have two of four things completed...and my sixth grader begins school the day after Labor Day.  It's a work in progress.

I also decided to start a new mosaic project.  I have been playing around with mosaics for a bit over a year now and have had lots of fun.  Each project I did was small but different from the previous one.  First one was with tiles.  Second one was a 8x10 picture frame size.  The third project I did three, all in 5x7 frames.  This time I decided to do a window.  When I went to the reuse store, I found TWO windows, six panels each, that had once been cabinet doors.  Perfect.

Next was finding the image/scene I wanted to create.  I found several I loved but one was seemingly great for this project.  I wanted the scene to span the two doors/windows.  Doug took it to work and increased the size so that it was split in quarters across and thirds down.

I decided to use glass and beads to create the scene.  I like lots of sensual texture--visual and touch.  When finished, this will hang outside from the porch.  I want the sun to catch it as well as just giving me visual pleasure while I sew.

First day on the project, I was able to complete the flowers at the bottom of the panels.  Except for the stems, I used beads.  I love a simple flower, but these I wanted to make rich and complicated.  So I made some simple, some complicated.  I used buttons for one.  And the large daisy will be made from glass. It's a work in progress.


When I returned home from southern California, I immediately completed two small quilts that only needed binding.  They will be going to children in the Portland Community College Adopt-a-Family program.  Each year some of my quilting friends and I make quilts for each child registered in the program.  Last year we gave away nearly 60 quilts and pillowcases.  So I try to start early in the year making quilts. It's a work in progress.  The quilt on the left was made from blocks donated to me from my friend Myra.  The quilt on the right was simple made from 9" blocks I wanted to play with and when I made enough, I put them together :)

Physically I have not been doing well.  I have had multiple flair-ups of fibromyalgia.  Perhaps someday I will find the perfect thing that will help when this happens.  And my toes have had multiple flair-ups from the neuropathy.  Perhaps someday I will find the perfect thing that will help when this happens.  But I discovered rosewood essential oil and the scent of this makes me happy :)  It's all just a work in progress.

peace~~~