Instant Pot

 When we were kids occasionally our dad would hide a thimble around the living room and we kids would search for it.  I don't remember if there was a prize involved because it would be hidden several times per session. I just remember we would have fun looking for it.

Easter Sunday we had 23 here for dinner.  Daughter, SIL, grand girls, brother, SIL, nieces, nephews, cousins, second and third generation nieces nephews and new niece.  Close to the end of the day Elizabeth noticed little frogs hidden in the kitchen.  Hidden in plain sight.  She found three. I thought they were her cat's toys from when we pet sat a few weeks ago.  But no. 

Everyone went home.  PH and I started finding the little frogs tucked everywhere.  Still in plain sight, but tucked on the bookshelves, in the bathroom, in the spare bedroom, living room, peeking out from all sorts of places downstairs and up.

I asked the girls if they or their dad did it.  No, they said. But I didn't believe them because it's just the sort of thing they would do and giggle as they watched us find them. They insisted no.  I asked a niece and she said no for herself, her husband and four kids.  I thought for sure it was the husband.  Nope. 

Back to clues with the grands.  We narrowed it down to another niece and her son.  Nope.  But she laughed when I asked "then who?"  We were up to 23 of them!  They are everywhere!  She said to check my emails.  Well, I'm not an email saver.  I read 'em and delete 'em. But I scrolled trash and found the conversation from Sunday's planning and there was the thank you from my great-nephew thanking us for the day and signing off with 🐸. Ah ha!! That went right over my head when I read it.   Niece said there could be 28 so we have five to go if that's true.

This was so much fun for PH and I as we would call from somewhere in the house, "Another one!"  But SO puzzling as to who hid them.  And a nice way to continue Sunday's fun.

Yesterday I went to the garden center.  It's about 45 minutes from here if there are no detours for road repair so it took me an hour.  I go to this one because their prices are the best anywhere.  Anywhere. I can't buy the quantity I buy and pay the prices of the swankier greenhouses. I go for the potted geraniums.  They are in full bloom, good height, healthy, inexpensive and I simply tilt them out of the hanging pot and into my bigger porch pots.

From this

To this.  Instant Pot!  These bright reds are my primary purchase.  There are a few other things I get for specific pots but this is the reason I go and the flowers I love. 

     Today we planted them.  I know. I know.  There isn't a horticulturalist in the state of Michigan who would say it's ok to plant now. Not a single one.  But I have my own barometer and I've only been frozen once.  

    I watched the weather and determined it was ok to go purchase.  The forecast for the next ten days is FINALLY seasonable in the high 60's /low 70's.  Today we are going to hit 80.  And none of the nights will freeze. 

Geraniums can withstand those temperatures.  In fact, they prefer it. The pots are on the porch so way above the ground and freeze.  

   And I am running the clock on a new hip soon so the list of to-dos is long.  I am happy to cross this off. 

    

Last night I kind of sorted the circles into sort of light/darks/colors.  I am not going to put them on a design wall and play with placement - because I don't have a design wall, just a Thinking Bed.  These will be sewn together as is with random placement. It's going to be fine.

 And I'm going out onto the porch right now with my cranky machine to begin.  I think I'm going to do the 16 x 18 - one of the sizes Susan figured for me.  Can't let this beautiful day be spent in the house. 

More Books

 This week's books were about the littles.  Many years ago I saw a quote that said, "If you think you are too small to be effective you've never been in bed with a mosquito" and I've used that quote for years with the kids I've read to.  Jut because you're little doesn't mean you're not important. And in the political climate we are living in I am, sadly, not heeding my own advice. Exhaustion has taken over.

But no one feels more insignificant than a 6 year old so I brought these books to remind them how important little can be.

The King of Little Things understood the importance of little things and was kind and generous to all of his little subjects.  Things like buttons and nails and snails and cups and pencils all have important jobs.  Little things.  His subjects loved him and were loyal to him.  But King Normous wanted all of it.  Everything.  All the kingdoms and all subjects loyal to just him (sound familiar?)  He vanquishes all the lands and peoples and believes he has it all until one of his nervous servants tells him about the King of Little Things.  So King Normous captures and imprisons him.  But the little things love their king and won't cooperate with King Normous.  The keys won't lock, the nails won't hold the dungeon door, the ants and bees come in to feed him, etc.  King Normous loses his buttons and his pants fall down.  Admitting defeat to the importance of little things he gives up.  Next time you use a paper clip think about the big job that little thing does.

Millie and her mother move to Garden Glen where every house and yard is the same.  Same lawn, same curtains in the windows, same roses, same same same. Millie, though, is eager to replant her old garden and make their new home feel like old home.  Well, her garden is filled with peculiar plants with very strange names and habits.  She is immediately dealt with by the Homeowners Association telling her this is not acceptable.  But Millie has a plan.  She invites her class to her garden and they come! And she gives cuttings and snips and soon, Garden Glen is interesting.  Just a small thing a little can do.

 None of the plants in Millie's garden are actually poisonous but have interesting names and faces and it's good storytelling.  Inspiration for the book came from the Poison Garden at Alnwick Garden, England where in 1997 one hundred varieties of poisonous plants were introduced. 

Our weather has turned, we are officially in spring. I went to the garden center today and bought my ten geranium baskets and some other things. I get planted hanging baskets and take them out, put them in my porch pots for instant size and color.  I was happy to fill the car with some sunshine. 

Leaves are Changing

After the prep, planning, cooking and partying Sunday, I spent yesterday doing absolutely nothing.  I couldn't even get up the gumption to think about my nothing choices.  The path of least resistance was to put on a movie and work on April's temperature tree.  The colors are changing and it's a welcome change. Then I took a nap. 

Easter

 Another successful Easter day!  We had 23 plus two babes here for dinner and egg games.  We are lucky and we know it, there was plenty of food, everyone was healthy and the family is growing (thus the two little ones) and even though some of the third generation are off on their own they still come for the day.

After dinner PH takes over the day with his egg games.  Everyone takes part, and there are prizes!

He is giving instructions for the egg roll down the driveway.  Even though we've done this for several years, this year the driveway is new and smooth as a baby's butt so while the game was the same the playing field was very different. 

Our two year old started us off. We all thought, "aw, how cute!" but his egg rolled all the way down to the street and as it kept going and going and going we all started to say, "Oh no!"

This is the big difference.  Our driveway is very long and curves and this year it's new and smooth.  Those eggs just kept on a goin' down to the street.  In the past we had divots and pot holes and gravelly pieces to stop them.  Not this year.  They just kept on a goin'   In an attempt to divert I tossed a couple of sticks on the surface.  Ha. Nice try.

The winner won by mere inches as they puddled at the bottom right at the street's edge.  That yellow one was the winner. Inches.

The raw egg toss was next.  I had to swallow hard as I stood on the porch taking pictures and watched a dozen eggs smashed to the ground.  This year they aren't cheap (cheep!)

It's serious stuff.  We discovered years ago, with each step back, the farther away you are for your catch your rings can tunk just enough to break the egg.

                                                     Thus the aprons.  There was splash.

                                                                        The scorecard. 

We had fun, toddlers to teenagers to seniors we all ate, laughed and played games. Who could ask for more?

New books

 Yesterday's books were folklorish.  I asked the kids if they knew what a folklore was and of course they didn't.  They're 6 and 7 years old but one little guy said, "a fairytale!"  Which, I told him, lives in the same basket as folklore. 

   Epossumondas was/is one of Elizabeth and Adelaide's best memories.  When they were little and spent time with us in South Haven, supper was only an appetizer for going out for ice cream afterward.  We listened to the CD of Epossumondas every.  single.  time.  There and back.  We have it memorized and we can recite it on demand.  

    Epossumondas is his mama's and auntie's sweet little patootie who takes everything they say absolutely literally (boy, I hate it when people do that to me!)  When he goes to visit auntie she gives him little gifts to take home:  bread or butter or cake or even a puppy.  It's how he gets those things home that makes the story so funny.

     In the afterword it is suggested that Epossumondas deliberately messes up his missions so he won't be asked to do them again, making him a bit of a thinker instead of the senseless one his mama thinks he is.

    There are many Anansi stories but the illustrations by Janet Stevens are so nice.  The Anansi stories are Africa folk tales.  

    Anansi is very lazy and tries to get out of doing any work at all.  When he sees the fish turtle caught he gets turtle to agree to take him fishing.  Turtle isn't so naive, he knows Anansi. Turtle says with two of them the task will go faster.  One of them will do the work and the other will get tired.  This reasoning always gets the kids' attention.  Anansi equates tired with work so he volunteers to do the tasks and turtle can be the one to get tired. After several tasks the fish is caught and the final lesson learned. Turtle suggests one of them eat the fish while the other one gets full.  Anansi is so hungry after all the tasks he wants to be the one that's full so turtle eats the whole fish.  In the end Anansi wants justice but the tables are turned yet again. 

    

Thanks to Susan (yay!!) for figuring the math for my circles.  She sent several size options and once Easter is over I'll pick one and get to connecting them.  What a joy THAT will be!   In the meantime I picked up the temperature tree for April.  I've decided rather than daily I would stitch a couple of weeks worth at a time.

Hope you have a nice Easter and the weather is good for you.  After the next couple of days of rain we are promised a nice Sunday.

Finished!

 FINISHED!!!!  Last night I put the final stitch in the last circle!  There are 297.  I don't know how I came up with that number but this morning as I pulled out the tin to take the photo I saw 6 on the floor.  When I counted them I put them into stacks of ten and these six were neatly stacked so...did I count them and dropped them as I put them in the tin or did they not get counted??? I think they are counted. I hope.  And down at the bottom of the finished there were four circles that had no backs, just orphan circles.  So, am I really finished?  Yes. 

Being math challenged I tried to figure how big this could be...these blocks will finish at 3.5 inches so what's the multiple of 297 (or 303?)  I'm going to have to just lay them out and see how big it gets.  Bedoin tent, indeed.  

But, I am finished with them!!

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' again

 OK, I should just not join these fun group gatherings because I always drop the ball.  Things just happen and I don't get much stitching time in.  This past weekend the Clayton's Scrub Stitchin' just didn't happen.  Much.  I had such high hopes. I was gone most of Thursday with friends, we ended up being gone all day and into the night Friday, crazy busy on Saturday and I spent a little time Sunday morning on one project then we were gone again.  I'm not even going to post on the link because nothing happened.  

I did put the front pieces on the Sue Spargo partially finished block from Marilyn's unfinished projects.  I did some fussy placing so the roses were framing the center.  Ironically, this piece of fabric was also from her from years ago.  Back then I needed something peasant looking and she gave me this.  So.

I'm going to use this for the back of the pillow.  I like doing contrasting fronts and backs on these many pillow projects of late.  

The Little Women got as far as the Thinking Bed and auditioning with the blue for a border. I love this blue fabric and don't want to waste it on just anything so I'm thinking of how big this project is going to be, wall hanging or small quilt, and then decide if this is right.  So this is as far as it got.

I DID get down to just eight circles left.  One evening's work. Just have to be home to do it.

We have a new tenant.  A robin couple are moving in.  The nest is atop a twig wreath I've had for many years and when we lived in South Haven a robin built a nest in the inside circle of this wreath every single year.  I am glad to see another family finds it just right.  This is just outside the window where the Thinking Bed is so I can watch. It's on the quiet side of the front porch and it's still too cool to be outside for sitting so she has it quiet.  This morning they were both busy.  We are very lenient of the birds and critters (except the squirrels) and allow them, feed them, are entertained by them.  

Except the squirrels.  I can't figure out how to outsmart the two that are quite comfortable getting their meals from the bird feeder.  It's a constant battle of waving arms, shouts, slamming brooms.  They back off till we are back in the house and then are back again.  Yes, there are baffles.  

Clayton's Scrub Stitchin'

 Last weekend I was at our little retreat, this week the Australia ladies are at their retreat, a big one.  Because so many of us won't be joining them Susan organized a "wish we were there" stitching week/weekend.  She's calling it Clayton's Scrub Stitchin'.  We are to kind of tell what we are going to work on, like if we packed it to bring to the real Scrub Stitchin' but it really means just do our own thing and post as we go along.  

A couple of things I'm hoping to accomplish require the machine.

I'm not used to cat help. We were fur babysitting and Hobbes decided to be a helper.

First thing on my list I was hoping, without Hobbes' help,  to get the side borders on the Little Woman dish towel project as my first project.  I am  completely making this up as I go along but I like the colors so far.  The sides are nine patch and the top and bottom are something else. Not sure how far I will take this but definitely iron it, measure and keep going. 

The Liberty circles are a definite.  The tin is full of finished circles on four inch backgrounds.  I have no idea how many I've made but am sure when I lay them out this will be as big as a Bedoin tent. 

There are only about 20 left.  Maybe less.  You know how it is when you count and the number never seems to change.  So I'm not counting.  I'm just plugging away, getting maybe ten done in a night. But this is the last of them.

I found this in a basket and all it needed was a binding. So here it is waiting to be sewn down.  This was a sew along at some point in the long distant past.

Decades ago Friend Marilyn and I took a class with Sue Spargo.  Marilyn got so much further than I did and I found this in the few things I sorted through the unfinished projects that she had left. I'm going to do what I am doing with all orphans lately.  It's going to be a pillow.  This isn't completely finished with all the embellishments and beads and embroidery but it's good enough and I'm not going to take it any further.  I don't even know where mine went.

If I get the Liberty circles done I'll fiddle with the peasant ladies.  I cut out the circles for faces and Adelaide drew on the eyes.  She said she liked how their dresses aren't all matchy matchy.  I am making this up as I go along, too. 

So, that's my retreat pile for Susan' play along.  When I finish those Liberty circles you'll be able to hear me cheer from wherever you are.  

No books today because the kids are on spring break from school. 

Books and Retreat

    This week I took to the woods with the books. 

This is a sweet fairy tale.  A king and queen had no children so the queen went to the royal inventor and she (SHE) put together a robot boy while the king went to the local witch and she transformed a log into a little girl.  But as we all know, witches attach glitches. At night the girl turns back into a log until she is awakened by the robot when he opens her curtains in the morning.  Then one day a commotion distracted him and he forgot....

Rene opens a cafe at the edge of the woods. An idyllic setting.  Glumfoot is the little gremlin who answers her ad for help.  Rene prepares gourmet foods she is very proud of but no one comes to eat. Glumfoot goes out into the woods and finds Ogre to come eat.  Ogre thinks Rene's ingredients are horrible but Glumfoot figures out how to fool the ogre into eating the food, which means the other forest creatures will, too. The kids loved the ingredients ogre expected and how Glumfoot transformed Rene's masterpieces to appeal to him. 

While you all are packing your cars for Scrub Stitchin' weekend, or as the time changes, you are probably UNpacking right now,  I was at my retreat last weekend.  

Our little group is just six of us now and that wasn't even this weekend because Friend Barb got sick in the late evening of the first day and packed up and went home to spare the rest of us getting what she had.  Thank, you, Barb!  We really missed her but were glad to not get what she had.

Thus there isn't much show and tell to share

Lisa made this huge elephant for her grand girls as a floor pillow.

She made this for their camper

Sally showed this.  We all were astounded.  It's beautiful, who doesn't like pink, green and white? But it is WAY out of Sally's wheelhouse. The blocks are big and not her colors at ALL.  I didn't get a picture of the pieced grand daughter's name on the back for privacy sake.  So pretty!

Joyce made this for her daughter.  This daughter is the one that's quilt worthy.  Remember the story I told about her OTHER daughter who sent the quilt Joyce made for her to Goodwill?  Not quilt worthy.

Joyce was given a lot of hexies from Barb and she did what I'm doing as my car project. Just attaching them with no rhyme or reason to planning.  Mine is growing but I only work on it in the car and my hexies are smaller. Joyce was happy to have a way to use the variety up.

And she had still more. 

Joyce is a wonderful knitter.  This is an interesting thing.  She is making a shawl with this yarn. You knit the blue but when you come to green you make this bauble thing - looks like barnacles or coral- they are random, you just stop knitting when you come to green and do the thing.  

Of course I can't show you my show and tell because it was Elizabeth's BA quilt. But this is what I worked on AND FINISHED.  When I got home I added the binding and FINISHED it!  

I also took my Liberty of London circles but didn't do much with them. They are a slow slog.

OK, have fun everyone at Scrub Stitchin' and tell everyone I said hi.

Books and bits

 When I take books to school to read to the kids I like to have them be related somehow, same author or  same subject, etc.

This week I took food and problem solving. Do you remember when you were a kid you could hop on your bike in the morning and go off exploring or gathering a few friends and no one knew where you went or what you did but you just played? And you solved your own problems? 

This one was so simple I just turned the pages as the kids read the words and a lot depended on the punctuation.  I congratulated them on reading it with the punctuation, using the exclamation point in their voices and the question mark.  

Our little guy is hungry and says to dad, "me hungry" but dad is busy and mom is busy so he goes off on his own to find food.  By process of elimination the rabbit, porcupine and tiger are not good choices.  But he finds one animal that is just right for helping to find food, not to be the one eaten.  And when he goes back to his cave our little guy is no longer hungry.

This one is an older book but SO relevant.  We have absolute best friends who do absolutely everything together.  But one brings a peanut butter sandwich everyday and one a pita filled with hummus. Finally peanut butter girl can't hold it in any longer and tells her friend she thinks her lunch is yucky.  And vice versa.  Words are spoken, a food fight means a visit to the principal.  The girls realize that their friendship means more than a sandwich, they each taste the other's lunch and this sparks an idea.

SO much in this one is relevant. Judging each other's differences, taking the time to understand, solving a problem without an adult, it goes on and on.  

And yes, when I mentioned hummus I had to explain what it was without saying "chickpeas" because they were already wrinkling their noses in yuck. Except for two little girls who said they love it. 

As I've said, Friend Marilyn is now in assisted living and while she gave away her fabric and books long ago when her house was being cleared out my daughter brought me the bits and pieces of things that were left.  As I went though I found some unfinished projects.  These baskets were a covid project our little retreat group was doing virtually together.  Mine became a back of the couch thing, Marilyn actually had covid and her health wasn't good so she gave up on hers.  I found them in the mix.  The other day I took them back to her and we layed them out on the floor so she could show me the placement she had in mind.  There were supposed to be blue triangles for sashing but those weren't around anywhere.  I was going to bring them home to sew together but convinced her she could do these by hand herself.  They are only six inch squares and she had already hand sewed three of them together long ago.  When she saw this she agreed, she would keep them and do it herself.  Victory!!

 

I kept my kids' baby teeth.  They are in a little medicine jar and I have some in a little copper container that I have on a chain to wear them just to drive the grand kids crazy.  They continually tell me when I die those things are going to be thrown in the river before even my ashes go.  I keep telling them they are going to be willed to one of them, probably Adelaide because Elizabeth wants my great aunt's glass eye.

It's a continual bone of contention, something they can get riled up about as I defend myself. I kept their mother's and uncle's teeth.  I threaten to have some made into rings.  Stringing them on a necklace like the Native Americans did with bear teeth.  I've been told by them witches kept teeth.  And reminded I have a glass eye in a drawer and a cauldron in the yard.  Things are adding up.

Last week I saw this article in the paper and tore it out, texted it to them and put it on the refrigerator. I am vindicated!  I told them in this political/social climate I MUST wear the necklace because there are many ogres to ward off.   They agreed, I can wear the necklace but not will it to them.

I said my only mistake was in not separating the teeth between my son and my daughter.  They are both mixed up in the same little bottle.  My daughter said that isn't the only mistake I made with the teeth. 

To dye for

 The other day Friend Laurie and I took a class in natural dyeing.  This wasn't completely new to me, in past years I did some dyeing and documented here when I tried to book teach myself how to dye with indigo.  That was rather intimidating, and I was a little afraid of it but kept everything and stored it in the dye pot in the garage.  This class was enough to ignite my curiosity again.  I don't need a new hobby but this process can be really simple.  One by product of taking this class.  I'll see about color fastness and maybe dye for a quilt project.  Maybe.

There were stainless steel dye pots set up with pomegranate, avocado, onion skins and black tea.

Onion skins are about the easiest thing of all.  I've dyed Easter eggs with onion skins, like my grandma used to do.  I just go to the grocery store and scoop out the skins into a bag and when the produce people ask what I'm doing and I explain it, they say, "go for it!"  They are free and the easiest way to get skins.

Each dye was natural and then another pot was set up with an iron mordant.  I learned that the iron can just be the iron pills people take.  Simple!  Adding the iron definitely changes things. Adding any mordant changes things. The avocado was the seed and the skin but the fruit carefully completely removed.  Lots of them.

Look at the difference in pomegranate! The instructor used powdered pom.

And the onion.  In the photo below you can see that adding the iron to onion makes a nice green

We were each given four cloth napkins. Everyone tied theirs for the tie dye effect but I have never liked tie dye and of course I was different by leaving my napkins flat.  The ones on the right I just dipped into the iron vat so you can see the halves with and without for the two.

It was a good class, fun, and I'll buy lots of marigolds at the nursery this summer to grow enough for a good dye pot.  

I've seen how some of you pack for retreat but this is what I'm taking. One tote with three projects, a tin with the Liberty circles and my hoop. the white bag has Elizabeth's BA quilt in for show and tell.  That's it. Hand quilters travel light!  I DO take my lamp, my chair and a small foot stool, too.