I like Thursdays: January 30, 2019

Good Morning!  How are you today?  It's Thursday and that means it's "I like Thursday" full of fun things that raise our spirits.

I like brushing my puppy at night.  We play a bit and brush a bit.  Scout has always hated being brushed by we finally got her to think of it as a game.  Now she comes to get brushed

We won't get her groomed until spring so she is a bit of a wooly bully these days.

I like the first finish of 2020!  This lap quilt is for Audrey, my son's girlfriend.  

When the midwinter arrives, I like to organize!

On Friday, I decided to spend some of Saturday reorganizing my buttons.  I have tons of them from women in my family and elderly women who had stopped sewing years ago.  For a while I was just throwing them all in a pile.  I even googled "organizing buttons" and found this wonderful post on the SewDelish blog.  She has good tips but when she got to the second tip, I had to giggle.  She encouraged readers to feel the buttons and let them run through your fingers.  Of course!  That was why I loved buttons when I was a kid! You can read the blog post here.

I found some fun buttons in the mix like these banana buttons that made me giggle too.  Not what I expected to find but very Carmen Miranda!

 And this really large button!

My favorite were these enameled buttons which are very small, about the size of my pinky nail:

It took longer than I thought to reorganize the buttons (I kept finding more bags of them) but it's finally done!

I like the piece of furniture my mom gave me!

She decided to get rid of this for a built in.

It's perfect for organizing my ribbons, appliques, and sewing doo-dads!

You wouldn't believe how much stuff I fit in the drawers!

Over at the Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog, we are sponsoring a giveaway which includes two charm packs of batik fabrics.  You have until Saturday to enter!

Be sure to explore more "I like Thursdays" posts at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color!

Have a wonderful day!

I Like Thursdays: January 23, 2020

I am so grateful that the days are getting longer!

There are only 56 days until spring!

It's Thursday and time to acknowledge what we are thankful for by posting some positive things on the internet.  "I Like Thursdays" is sponsored by LeeAnna and you can find more positive blogs by visiting her website!

This past week has been quiet.  We had snow and ice on Saturday and Scout and I spent the weekend hibernating from the cold.  Since we couldn't walk in the snow, we spent a lot more time playing in the house.

Scout sporting her favorite toy that we call "Rocky Racoon."  She isn't allowed to get groomed right now and in the evenings I've been brushing her which she had always hated but is beginning to enjoy.  She pats my knee at night to brush her now! 

I spent the weekend working on hearts.  I'm a big fan of the "I found a quilted heart" program and decided to work on some.  These aren't done; I made a bunch of them and am going to finish them up this weekend.

I'm still working on suffrage centennial programs.  I have two new lectures I'm writing to give at some local historical societies and museums.  I had ordered these pins from Zazzle and received them this week.  They are fantastic (the colors are slightly off because it was early when I photographed them).

The news is bleak these days and so yesterday I posted one of my Mom's favorite suffrage stories on the Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog.  The ending of the story always makes her laugh; it's hard for the elderly at this time of year.  I've been keeping her busy with craft projects this winter and it seems to be helping her through these inclement  days.

I hope you are finding joy each day too!  Have a wonderful day!

I Like Thursdays: January 16, 2020

Good Morning!

How are you doing today?  It's a beautiful morning in Pennsylvania although we are bracing for snow this weekend!

It's "I like Thursdays" and time to post positive things on the internet.  For more positive posts, visit LeeAnna, our hostess with the most-ess!

Scout has been doing well this past week and we are very grateful.  Here she is while we are visiting my Mom and her dog Greta.  Both dogs like to gnaw on things together (they are working on some bones together).  They are good friends and Scout loves to see her Greta!

I like snowdrops blooming in January!  Spring is months away but we are always happy to see a sneak peak in these wonderful little flowers!

I'm back to work now that the holidays are over!  My focus is researching and preparing some new suffrage lectures for local historical societies and museums.  I spent a lot of time at the library at Easton PA and although I had been there many years ago, was surprised to see this statue at the exit.  I thought it was lovely.  

It's slim pickings on tv right now.  One evening I had a long and wonderful text conversation with my best friend Linda.  She and her husband travel in the winter and they are in Florida right now.  She was excited to tell me she had visited the home of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at Cross Creek.  Decades ago we loved the movie Cross Creek--have you ever seen it?  I highly recommend it!

Linda sent me a lot of photos from her tour and I thought I would share a few with you:

I love this quilt (above).  I don't know why I gravitate to simple patterns right now but for some reason they speak to me.  I find this quilt soothing.

Marjorie's bedroom and below sewing machine!

Ironing in the breezeway!

Most of the books on this shelf were edited by the great Max Perkins who was also Marjorie's editor.  When I was young, I went through a phase in my life  that I was intent on reading all the books Max edited.  I got pretty far although I can't remember the plots of some of the books because it was decades ago.

Well that is all our business for this week.  Be sure to stop over to the Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog as well for more updates on women's suffrage!

I Like Thursdays: January 9, 2020

It's "I like Thursdays" and time for our weekly post of things we like.  You can visit LeeAnna our hostess for more posts!

I like a show I found on Netflix called "The Repair Shop."  The show features artisans who repair antiques and family heirlooms.  It's fascinating to see how they can repair things in our society (which as become prone to disposing of so many things).

In the antique world, a phrase occurred in the last few years:  "down with brown"; it symbolizes the lack of interest younger generations have in antiques and old wooden pieces.  I'd like to replace that phrase with "wood is good"  A nice old piece has already lasted for decades (or centuries) and will continue to endure.  You buy it once and it's done.  Anyway I love the show and seeing how things can be preserved, check it out!

On Tuesday night, our guild had our yearly quilt challenge!  The theme was optical illusion quilts.  Here are some photos:

This piece below won first place for big quilts:

Unfortunately my photo of the smaller piece that won is too blurry to post. :(

The only other thing I've accomplished this past week was I've been attaching binding to quilts.  I had to bring my sewing machine and accessories into the dining room because Scout is not supposed to do steps right now.

I had mentioned that Scout was exhausted from all the holiday celebrations last week but we had a situation develop that was unexpected.  Scout and I were walking when she suddenly sat down and was unresponsive--even when dogs walked by us (our puppy is a social butterfly and loves meeting other dogs).  

My brother had to come pick us up because I couldn't get her to walk at all and it was too far to carry her.  Of course we rushed her to the vet.  To make a long story short, it's possible that Scout had a petit mal seizure.  There is no definitive test for epilepsy  in dogs but all her bloodwork was fine.  She's slept a lot and is only now getting back to herself.  We have to keep an eye on her for another seizure and if that happens, she will be placed on medication.  I'm praying that this was a one time occurence.

That's it for this week.  Have a great day!

I Like Thursdays: January 2, 2020

It's the roaring twenties!!!  How are you doing today?  Like everyone else I know, I have to keep telling myself today is Thursday not Monday.  Midweek holidays do have a way of confusing me!

It's been a looooong holiday for us with family coming in for the last week and finally ending on New Years Eve.  The fun part of the holiday was meeting my niece's new stepchildren and showering them with presents and attention.  Little ones really make the holiday better!

Our new great nephew was a whirl of activity and took to the dogs especially little Ruca who was worn out after playing with Scout and layed nicely while the little guy learned "gentle" and stroked her head!

Did you watch "Crafts in America" last week?  It is a PBS special that runs around this time of year.  Last week they featured quilts and it was a very interesting show.  I loved learning about the quilters and seeing Ken Burns interviewed about his quilt collection.  You may be able to see it online if you didn't catch it then.  

Another episode followed after the "quilts" episode and it was entitled "Identity."  It was interesting to me to learn about the crafts Japanese Americans made while being held in internment camps during World War 2.  I learned a new word during that show--gaman--which was mentioned frequently.  Gaman is a Zen Buddhist concept meaning "enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity."

I like the book Zen and the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.  I think I will reread it this year.  I discovered the book years ago after--of all  people--my 80 something year old grandmother recommended it.  Someone had left a copy of it at her house and she really enjoyed reading it.

By the morning of New Year's Eve, even Scout was exhausted from all the merriment and we snuck a few hours in to resume her schedule and get some much needed sewing therapy.  I finished this wall hanging:

I also began working on a new lap quilt for one of the teens in our family.  Years ago I was enchanted with the idea of a "plus sign" quilt and even bought fabric for the project.  I found a free pattern over at the Fat Quarter Shop called Layer Cake Lattice and assembled the blocks.  The pattern calls to just assemble the plus signs together:

I didn't like that idea and also to make the quilt larger, I decided to sash it and auditioned a couple of colors with it:

I've decided to go with the gray sashing and will begin to assemble the piece today.

Have a wonderful new year and be sure to visit our hostess LeeAnna for more positive posts!

Happy New Year!