New Years Eve

 It's finally here.  The last day of 2020!  Actually it is much like any other day but we'll give it a shout out of it's own.  Or perhaps I'll wait until tomorrow when 2021 actually starts.

It's a cold day here.  Feels in the low 30s and rainy.  At least I don't have to go out and can stay inside.  Today is also the day I can show you one of the test patterns that I did.  It's called Loves Times Three.  It's small but I did it in all pinks.  

Wait.  The Reindeer Clan wanted to say good bye since they are going to hibernate until maybe July.  So for one final appearance we have:

Chad:

Fritz:

Hiram:

and Suzie:

Have a great and safe New Years everybody!!!!!!

Winding down 2020

 Just a short post to ask "Are you glad 2020 is coming to a close"?  I have mixed feelings on it but overall it hasn't been too bad.  Yes I know COVID curtailed a lot of my plans but overall I still think I came out ahead.

I didn't think I did a lot but over all I did.  I retired!  Number one on my list.  That, of course, enabled me to do more crafting.  So what else did I do?  I moved!  Some thought this was unexpected but for YEARS I had been saying that I would move after all of my immediate family passed away.  That happened so when I retired I also moved to Arkansas!  BEST move EVER.  I missed my friends in Illinois but we do keep in touch via social media and I kept my same phone number and email so it's not like they don't know how to keep in touch with me.

I also managed to meet my weight loss goal.  I actually lost a little more weight last week so now I am hovering between 179 and 181.  Considering that I weighed over 300 less than a year ago I am proud of my accomplishment.  The only problem with the weight loss is the "nothing fits any more".  It's a good thing I don't go out a lot, especially with COVID now, so I don't have to worry about it.

I have managed to get some UFO's done.  Those are craft projects that were started but not finished.  I am so enjoying having time to craft.  Being at home is NOT a problem.  I change out my projects and keep some out so I remember to work on them.  Today I bought a flannel sheet and put it up on the wall for a design wall.  This will be one way for me to remember to work on certain projects.  The design wall isn't perfect and I will be working on THAT in 2021 also.    So to inspire me is a UFO that I have been working on for years.  LeFleur!

Before that I had my house blocks for Corona-ville up.

That's it for now.  I will post tomorrow with some things I want to do in 2021.  I might even include a LONG list of BOMs for 2021.  See you on New Years Eve!

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas everybody!  I haven't done any stitching or crafting for the last couple of days so I could enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  My friend Dan came over, and will be here today also, to share a meal with me.  

I gave Dan his pillow and he gave it a big hug so I do believe that he likes it.  That, of course, put a big smile on my face.  

The menu was a simple one but I think it turned out great.  Not many leftovers which is good since we will have more today.  

Only a little bit of the ham was left over as well as a little bit of corn bread with honey butter.  The cornbread will come out today.

Of course dessert time was candy and cookie time.  Santa had some also (with milk) so now it will be leftovers today.

My menu today, Christmas Day, will be Rock Cornish Hens.  I'll roast potatoes, carrots, and onions with them when I bake the hens.  I will also bring out what was left of the corn bread and serve it again today with honey butter.

That's about it for now.  I'm getting sleepy again so that is my que to stop writing.  Have a great and safe holiday.

Four Days and Counting

 I did some more work on some projects and made some decisions.  Will they be Christmas presents?  A couple of them will be but they won't be mailed until after Christmas.  Still I'm happy to have made progress on them

I have finally decided on which layout for the two log cabins that I did.  One is in a lighter colorway and I thought I'd like it a bunch more than I do.  These were kits from Jordan Fabrics and the pattern suggestions did not include a border but I think I want a border on them.

First up is the lighter colored fabric log cabin.

Because there isn't a clear or well defined darker portion of the log cabin, in my opinion, to stand out more, I'm going to use the above layout and keep it more traditional.  Any suggestions on border color and how many borders?

This next one is better.  It has a more distinct darker color on the outer row so I am going to chose this layout for it.

Once again the pattern was a kit from Jordan Fabrics and no border was mentioned.  I will put a border on this too but not sure yet what colors.

I did finish the reindeer Merry Christmas stitching.  It is all stitched down and now I have a hard decision to make.

Do I make it into a wall hanging or do I make it into a long pillow for the couch or some place else?  I could also make it into a table runner.  Decisions...decisions...decisions.  What do you think?  I probably won't finish it until sometime in 2021 but it is a good start.  Do you remember the reindeer names?  From Right to Left....

Chad

Suzie

Declan

Hiram

and Fritz.

You didn't meet Fritz before.  He is somewhat shy around social media but get him going at the Christmas Party!   Watch out!.  Rumor has it that he has hidden cameras in his antlers and that he uses it to his advantage.  Careful how much egg nog you have or more importantly, keep Fritz away from the egg nog.  Unless you want to see him dance Lord of the Rings.  He's getting better at it.  He makes it for a full 5 minutes before his legs get all tangled up.

The other progress I have to share with you is an idea for my friend Janine.  When Janine had some health issues and had to go into a nursing home for rehab, her family got rid of 99% of all the quilted stuff I had given her.  She asked me if I could make her something else.  Janine is a cat fanatic.  She can't have her cats any more and the family took them to a shelter also.  Soooo, I found these funky cats and thought of Janine.  I am putting one on a pillow and then I'll send down the pillows to her.  If they make it to her (with COVID I'm not sure) then I will send more.  

These are the first two.  I almost have them ready to put together.  I will mail them to her in January.  This first one is stitched down already so I will probably work on it a bit tomorrow to make it a pillow.

This second one will be stitched down by the weekend.  Janine used to crochet so I thought the cat playing with the yarn would appeal to her.

I have two more designs that I picked out that I could make more pillows out of.  These will be small enough she could put them on her bed if she wants or even in her wheel chair to lean against, etc.  What do you think?

That's it for tonight.  It is 11 p.m. (Central) so I am going to try and turn off my bran and get some sleep.  Have a great day and be safe.

Hugs to all.

Five days and Counting

Five days until Christmas and counting has begun.  You know about the counting don't you?  That's when you look at what you wanted to get done by Christmas and then look at what you GOT done and THEN look at what you have left.  Don't despair.   There is still time to get some things done  Perhaps you need to look at what you wanted to get done and change what it looks like.  Did you  need ALL those sections to that quilt?  Could you cut some out and it would still look great.  Perhaps you don't need to do a quilt but perhaps a pillow that they can cuddle with?  

That was one of my changes.  I need to do a quilt for a friend but it's not going to happen.  Actually it hasn't happened for about 10 years now so in 2021 I will try to change how I envisioned it before and see what can be done.  Perhaps a quilt will not be what it will end up as for so many things have changed in those 10 years.

I did, however, get one pillow done which I thought was cute.  This will be a present given out on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  Then I'll make one for myself because I think it is cute and it sure did feel good on my back when I sat in the rocking chair.  LOL.

I already have some projects that I started at the last minute which will carry me through the end of December.  I have to so much done on a project before it lets me put it aside until later.  I think by February I should be able to put the holiday projects away until July.  Why July?  You've heard of Christmas in July before right?  That's my reasoning anyway.  Don't worry though.  I will still be crafting.  

I had mentioned before that I wanted to pick up on my cross stitch again in 2021.  That required me to get a bit organized and now I am ALMOST done with that.  This is my stash of DMC floss.  You might think it is a lot, and you'd be right, but it is not all that I have.  As I mentioned, this is my stash.  I have projects that are kitted up waiting for me to work on them.  Most of them are from Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) and average around 60 colors in each one.  I did not count in those colors.  :)

This first picture is what I have organized so far.

This second picture shows what else I have to file away into my stash.  Sounds like a plan for Christmas Day or New Years Eve, etc.

Have you guessed how much floss I have?  What you see here is 934 skeins of floss.   I would estimate that I have about another 240 skins that are kitted up in projects.  You might think that is enough, but I know from experience that I will find a new project that I will want to do and when I kit it up there will be MORE floss that I will need.  LOL.  Such is the life of a crafter.

If I don't get a chance to post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a merry and safe holiday.  It doesn't matter if you celebrate it or not.  I will always wish you a great and safe day.  Live it well for you never know when it will be your last.  

The Reindeer Clan

 I managed to get some stitching done on the Christmas table runner.  I won't get it finished by this Christmas but it will be for next Christmas.

Here are the cute reindeer.

This is Chad.  He has a sense of rumor and is quite loveable.

This is Declan.  He likes to think he is in charge but usually is a middle of the road type of reindeer.  He has your back so you don't have to worry.

This is Hiram.  He will be stitched down this week.  Hiram holds a special place in my heart because of his namesake.  Don't trust those innocent eyes though.  He likes to get into trouble.  He won't blame other if he gets caught but he won't be too repentant either.  LOL.

The sweetheart of The Reindeer Clan is Suzie.  She is a sweetie and the rest of the clan look out for her.  She has them eating out of her hoofs and knows it.  

There is one more Reindeer that I will show when it is his turn for being stitched down.  So if you see reindeer flying unsupervised this year, it is probably this clan.  They like to sneak away from Santa and go visit the Queen Elf.  Perhaps it is because they know she'll feed them stuff that Santa and Mrs. Claus don't think they should eat, or at least not that much of it. 

Have a great day and watch out for Reindeer Crossings!

Another finish for 2020

 I couldn't stand it any longer.  The three quilts/wall hangings that came back from the long armer (why do I always want to type long armor?) gave been staring me in the face.  To shut them up, I picked one up to finish.  All it needed was the binding so I did that this week.  It was the hexagon heart which will go on the wall in February.

It will replace my hexagon snowflake that is above the dresser in the living room.

I put two crocheted snowflakes on either side of it.  I might have to make some hearts to go on either side of the hexagon heart.  I'll see.  I have time to do that.

That's not all that I worked on.  I also pulled out one of the log cabin kits from Jordan Fabrics that I've had for a couple of years.  I wasn't sure if I would like working on log cabin blocks so only ordered one kit.  That gave me 12 blocks.  They suggested a couple of different layouts.  Their suggestions were:

Layout 1

Layout 2  

I might play with different layouts but these aren't too bad.  Which one do you like better?  Layout 1 or Layout 2?  Do you have any other suggestions?  I did like piecing these blocks together.  I decided, after making 2 individual ones, that I could chain piece them.  That speeded up the process a lot so even though I started these last night, I finished them around 11 a.m. today.  I can see that I might have more log cabins in my future.  

That's about all I have for this quick post.  It is cold today  and will be for the rest of the week.  I am cozy warm, almost too warm, so that's ok with me.  The range of temps for the rest of the week are highs  between 41F - 51F and the range for lows are 26F - 38F.  If the temperatures are below 32F, I let the cold water faucet drip.  Been doing that for years and it works pretty good.  At night I also move my electric heater into the laundry room and aim it towards the bathroom.  It just takes the chill off and helps keep pipes from freezing.  Besides I don't like to sit down on a cold bathroom stool in the early hours.  LOL.  I will admit that I'm a wimp.  

I hope you have a great day.

Stay safe and well.

Hugs to all.

Kona Color of the year for 2021

 It's hard to believe 2021 is right around the corner but Kona is here to remind us.  They have picked their color of the year for 2021 and here it is.  It's a beautiful sky blue called Horizon.

Sometimes I'm not that fond of the Color of the Year but I can get into Horizon.  I might even have to order some of it but not for a long time since I have enough blues for now.  Still.......

<grins>

Have a great day everybody.

What's Cooking?

 Whew!  I don't know about you but my brain hurts as well as my hands because of trying to get all the projects done that I need to.  That means this post will be more about what I plan on cooking this week as well as introducing you to my friends new blog.   Susan (Susie) has been talking about journaling/blogging for a bit and I am so happy to see that she started.  You can use the link below to check it out.  She has just started so there isn't much to show yet but bookmark it to go back to later.  I will put a tag in the next day or two on the side of my blog so you can just click that.

Quilting Susie Blog

It is cold here today.  I shouldn't be surprised since it IS December so I sat down and made a list of what I would like to cook this week.  So far my list consists of:

apple butter or apple sauce, I'm not sure which yet

white lasagna

ramen noodle chicken soup

cookies - chewy ginger molasses; peanut butter (hopefully to put in the freezer for closer to Christmas and the New Year)

Cupcakes and frosting - not sure if yellow or chocolate 

That's all on my list so far but I feel like I am missing something that I had thought to add.  Oh well, sooner or later I will remember what it is...Oh..I just remembered!   Rice pudding.  I have a lot of rice and raisins so a nice rice pudding sounds good.  I will have to double check on how many eggs I have.  With all this cooking I might have to get more eggs before I can make everything.  LOL.

Now it's time for me to get my bible and do my daily reading challenge.  That is to read a chapter of Luke each day in December leading up to Christmas.  

The bible that I am reading out of was presented to "Mom Chamberlain" on December 25, 1953 by Anita and George Chamberlain.  In this case, Mom Chamberlain would be my grandmother and was given to her three years before I was born.  It is the King James Version "The text conformable to that of the edition of 1611 commonly known as the authorized or King James Version".  I have to be careful with it since the binding is coming off.  I need to get some glue or something to put it back on. 

I hope everybody stays safe and well.  I thank you all for reading and hope you have good holidays.

Peace to all.

The Day After!

 Whew!  Welcome to the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Are any of you taking advantage of Black Friday sales?  I probably won't but I will still look online and see if I need anything.

I had a great Thanksgiving.  I talked to my sister in law.  She does cross stitch and dried flower arrangements etc. so it is nice to hear from her.  It was also my friend Dan's birthday so he came over.  He almost missed it since he hadn't been feeling the best before (shh.  too much cheese in his diet -- been there before) but by six he was feeling well enough to come over.  That's only 4-5 hours later than planned.  I think we need to invent time stop or something even if nothing else for cooking.  You know, after the turkey goes in to be done between 1-2 p.m. and you find out your company isn't going to be there until 6 p.m.?  The turkey refused to stop cooking!  It still turned out great and since it was a small turkey, I gave Dan the rest to go back home with him.  I actually gave him around 90% of the leftovers to take back home with him.  LOL.

As you can see we didn't go hungry.  Dan took these pictures.  This was his first plate of food.  He stopped at two plates.

Having limited room to set things up, I decided to recruit my ironing board to put some of my crockpots on as well as the gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce.  The pies and biscuits were on the card tables.  Dan discovered if he leaned slightly to the right, he didn't have to get up to get the biscuits.  :)

The menu was:

Turkey (10 pound)

dressing

gravy

fresh cranberry sauce 

green bean casserole

party potatoes (new recipe for me this year --- will definitely make it again)

biscuits (hot out of the oven)

apple pie

pumpkin pie

Blackberry Honey Wine - Thank you Dan for sharing your birthday gift with me...Double thanks for leaving it for me to finish off.  :)

I even shared some of the turkey with the outdoor cats Tangerine and Orange.  They used to belong in the house but the former residents kicked them out.  The neighborhood feeds them as does the mail lady.  I don't normally feed them, but did find an animal house in the back yard that was brought up front to put in the trees in case they want to shelter in it.   I noticed that somebody put two small animal beds in there now.  I wonder if they will ever use it.  I have seen them checking it out by sticking their heads in but that is it so far.  Animals adapt to their surroundings so if the weather gets bad enough I'm sure they will go in it.

Today is back to a more normal day for me.  I've done most of my dishes from yesterday.  My roaster is still soaking but everything else is done.  I have the laundry out of the washer and in the dryer.  That is the laundry from yesterday.  The towels, dish clothes, etc.  In a little bit I will put regular laundry in the washer.  No need to start it now since it would have to wait for the dryer anyway.  

This week is start to address Christmas cards.  I'm debating if I will type up a "what's changed" letter in them or not.  I don't normally do that but 2020 has brought a lot of changes so it might be nice to recap it. 

Time to get back to chores.  Have to finish them before I can get back to stitching on Christmas in Jacksonville.  I'm on the last of the embroidery blocks for that.  I do not think I will do the log cabin/courthouse steps blocks that the pattern calls for.  I might, however, look up some more Christmas themed patterns that I could embroidery in blocks to add in instead.  It was the embroidered blocks that caught my attention and what I liked best about this pattern.

Everybody have a great day and stay safe.

Hugs to all.

Another UFO came back from the long armer

 This is just a short post to show you my final UFO that came back from the long arm service.  It has a teal Minky on the back.  I didn't know it was Minky until today so it will be interesting to see how I'm going to put the binding on.

That's it for now.  Time to check on the apple pie in the oven.  :)

UFO's ALMOST finished

 Before I post up some pictures of my UFO's that are almost finished, do you know what this picture means?

I put my scraps to use and cut them into 2" strips.  Then I sewed them all together and ironed them like I would for binding.  It's not binding for a quilt though.  I'm using it to "bind" my aida cloth so it doesn't ravel when I do my cross stitch.

It's not the only binding will I be working on.  I need to do my binding for two UFO's that are now quilted.

The first one is the top.  The material shown in the lower right corner on the front is the backing material as well as what I think I am going to do the binding in.  

Here is a close up of the quilting done on it.  I sent it out to Missouri Star Quilt Company to quilt.

The other wall hanging that I sent MSQC to quilt is my hexagon heart.  The backing material  is the pink swirl material in the lower right hand corner.  They quilted it in pink thread so you can see the swirls nicely.

I will bind it with the backing material.

That's it for now  Christmas Chronicles: Part Two is out on Netflix now so it's time to watch it.  I will also be watching Iron Mask on Vudu today.  

Bread is in the bread machine for tomorrow (if I can resist it).  I will be making some other of my side dishes for tomorrow today.  Things are starting to come together.

I hope everybody has a great day today as well as a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Tooting a friends horn!

 Hello my readers! 

It's a mid month check in but first of all I wanted to toot a horn for my friend, and reader, Susan Smith.  Susan is a quilter and has just recently been accepted as a pattern tester for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  As most of you know, I love that magazine and test their patterns whenever I can.  Susan just got permission to tell and show people her first test pattern that she did.  She doesn't have a blog but I am more than happy to support the crafting community so here is a picture of the top of her test pattern.  It is called Boxed Dutchman by RaeLyn Boothe.  

As she stated "This quilt is multi purposed, it is Red, White, and Blue for the Fourth of July as well as able to be used for Christmas due to the Red Poinsettia fabric, the Blue Crackle and the White with Roses". I also think that it would be good for any of the patriotic holidays. So many uses and times where she can show off her talent. Well done Susan!

I am working on multiple projects myself but since most of them are for presents I can't share the pictures.  Still I am thinking on what to work on in 2021 and I'm getting excited.  2021 will be my year for working more on cross stitch patterns.  I will be quilting too but cross stitch, hopefully, will be featured a bit more.  Of course lots of times my plans get changed so we'll see what 2021 brings.

I hope everybody has a wonderful day.  I'll be doing a post before Thanksgiving so watch the blog for that.  

Hugs to all.

I'm making progress....

 It's nice to be able to report that I'm making progress on another UFO.  This one is a Christmas Rail Fence pattern from Jordan Fabrics.  The pattern didn't call for a border but I put one on anyway  I'm liking it a lot better with the border.  

In between working on the UFO, I also finished crocheting the pot holders for a birthday present  for Dan later this month.  I have four of them that I'll be giving him.  

I haven't stopped there.  I also am on schedule to finish up the 3rd (of 4) tulip block for Simple Yet Block this week.  I only have 6 more leaves to stitch and I'm pacing myself to do 2 every day.  That way I can pace myself and not get tired of working on it.  

With the colder weather, I also have picked up on cooking a bit more.  I got three Diabetic Living cookbooks and they look like they have some nice recipes in it.  I'm not diabetic but that doesn't mean I wouldn't benefit from eating a bit healthier.

I am almost done eating my savory onion bread.  It is great toasted!  I'm not sure what bread I'll make next.  A cinnamon bread might be next or just another white loaf.  It is so hard to decide.

With the cooler weather settling in, I also want stews and soups.  This one is a lentil stew and I served it over a garlic and pepper rice.

It was nice to have waiting for me after I raked the leaves.

It's time to get back to my stitching.  I have two blocks fused for LeFleur and need to start on them.

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll post again in a couple of days.

Welcome to November!

Sorry for not posting in awhile but life has been busy for me as I'm sure it has for most of you.  Now it is November and time to turn our clocks back since Daylight Savings Time is ending in 45 minutes.  Where DID time go.  With thinking about where time went, it reminded me that I need to be a bit more structured so that I'm not wasting time and spinning my wheels.

When I first retired, I made lists and semi keep to them.  It was good to look at the list to see what I had wanted to accomplish.  I didn't get everything done but it was good to see all those check marks in the "finished" column.  I've slacked off on that during COVID and realized that I need to get back on track.  That is my goal for November...to get back on track.

With that in mind, what will be on my list?

I finished the test pattern that was due by November 9th so that can already be crossed off.  The other things on the list are:

Le Fleur - I pieced together two 9 patch blocks that are the background for the applique.  I have one fused on and probably tomorrow I will probably fuse on the second one.  Then I will hand stitch them down.

Christmas in Jacksonville - I will keep working on the embroidered blocks.  I'm not sure if I will do the pieced blocks.  They are a log cabin/courthouse steps type block and while I like them something is telling me not to do them.  If I don't do them, I will have to fill in with something else.

The House blocks for COVID - I need to applique trees on some blocks and then put them together.

Simple Yet Elegant - I am behind on my blocks but will keep working on them.  I am almost finished with a third (out of four) center tulip block.  I have been postponing doing one block.  A bird block.  I think I will do that one next just to make sure that it gets done.  I have another block that is fused on that needs to get stitched also.

Finish a rail fence UFO.  The top is done except that it has no borders.  The pattern didn't call for it to have a border but I think that I will put one on.   It's a smallish wall hanging so it could use a border.

Cook Thanksgiving dinner for Dan and I.  

That's what my list looks like.  Do you have a plan for November?

 

Be more like a Flamingo

 I know...a flamingo?  Not my first bird of choice to look to as a role model but hear me out.  

I was given the October-November 2020 issue of National Wildlife so I was looking through it and found a short piece on "Birds of a feather...".  The first sentence caught my eye and it really made sense. "For the first time, scientists have documented that flamingos consistently spend time with a handful of their close 'friends" while avoiding birds they don't get along with."  

Doesn't that sound like something we should do too?  I'm sure that most of us don't go out of our way to hang out with people we don't get along with.  In our Covid world that we fid ourselves living in, it makes more sense than ever.  "When unfriendly birds get too close to each other, on the other hand, they joust with their necks and beaks to determine dominance, with the winner most likely to be the individual with the longest neck...flamingos that regularly sat or stood less than one neck away from one another were classified as friends."  

Let's be more like flamingoes and hang out with our friends.  Stay a safe six feet away from our friends (a much longer distance unless you are Pinocchio) but still within talking range.  

Be like a flamingo and keep your friends within a safe but sociable distance and try to talk about pleasant things instead of all the negativity that is in the world today.  Need an ice breaker to start a conversation?  Use this post.  Who knows, after a couple of drinks the new drinking game could be "who can stretch their neck the farthest."  If you do use that for a drinking game, don't forget to add another element.  Perhaps standing on one leg while doing it or when taking your next drink.  Don't forget to have cameras ready when others try this.

Enjoy. 

What I have been up to...besides no good

 Seriously though, I have been busy with reorganizing and trying to figure out what I want to do.  I'm in a rut with my projects.  The good news is that I am making progress on each project but the bad news is that, without thinking about it, most of the projects I'm working on are using the same colors.  I have been stuck working with Black, Green, and Red DMC Floss.  Good thing that I have big cones of the Black and Red so I don't have to worry about getting more.

Ready for some updated pictures?   Here I go...

First up is a block that I am doing from one of my Facebook groups.  This is just the first one.  Not sure how many of the blocks I will do but it is pieced which is outside of my comfort zone.  You know that I love applique more but sometimes I have to work on pieced projects also.

These next two pictures are from the Covid house exchange project from one of my groups.  We exchanged house blocks and this is how I'm putting mine together.  I was feeling pretty good about getting two rows done and then I noticed it....

(insert big sigh here).  Somehow I cut into one of the blocks.  Se that metal sticking out of a slit in this next picture?  Yep, up towards the top.  Now I have to think on how I will repair/cover it up.  Of course I could just redo the block but that is a last resort option.  

I will probably cut out a cloud to put there or maybe a bird.  Then I will have to balance it out in another block in the next row.  At least I think I will need to do that to balance it out.  It would probably bug me if I didn't.

I don't have any updates on my Christmas in Jacksonville embroidered blocks nor in my Simple Yet Elegant blocks.  That is because I am picking back up my Fleur blocks.  Progress pictures will be posted down the road. 

I *did* get my rocking chair put together.  Thank you Dan!  This was my service award for 30 years at NIU.  I actually worked for around 32 years but they only do awards in 5 years increments.  I was lucky to get it and, knowing that I was going to retire, I kept it in the box until the moved occurred.  Now it is time to get/make some cushions for it.  The back certainly needs it since it hurts my back when I sit in it.  The bars/spokes on the back hit my spine so I need some cushion to put a barrier there.

As I was looking through one of my totes to see if it had more hidden fabric in it, I discovered my HIGH SCHOOL graduation present from my dad's only sister, Aunt Rachel.  She would crochet an afghan for everybody in the family and give it to them when they graduated high school.  This was given to me in 1974 when I graduated from high school.  I'll let you do the math on how long ago that was.  :)

I think it is holding up pretty good for all those years. 

That's all to report this time.  Next time you might see some pie pictures.  That is if I ever make up my mind if I want to make an apple pie or a pumpkin pie.  If I don't make an apple pie, I will probably use my apples and make applesauce.  Hmmm. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day/night and even better weekend.  See you next time.