Life Stories

I’ve just recently gotten to know my neighbor. She has been a neighbor for 30 years. We both worked for many years and she is rightfully retired; I’m not working because . . . and I haven’t gotten excited about working since discovering how enjoyable it is to stay home, sew quilts, shop some time other than evenings or weekends, visit our daughter whenever I want, and get to know my neighbors (okay, one in particular).

We usually talk for long periods over the fence separating our two properties. Today we had brunch at a café we both like. She knows more people than I can possibly keep track of and has at least one story about each one. Today’s memories took us back to when her daughter was little. Becky was four when she started school and became quick friends with the next smallest girl; barely separable for bed time in their own homes.

Becky and her friend Marta both liked animals. Becky had a dog, fish, duck, any domesticated animal mom or dad would buy her (are ducks considered domesticated?). Marta had only a dog, but liked to look at magazines of exotic animals. She filled out a card from one of these magazines. Sometime later, a call came to her home from the airport.

“Your monkey is out of quarantine, please come and pick him up,” was the unexpected message from the airport. Dad was not happy. Dad went to the airport. Dad came home with a spider monkey, which had no place to climb as they had not one tree in the back yard. So, dad bought a cage and the monkey lived in there when not free in the house, wearing a diaper Marta’s mom made. It seems that Marta, in first or second grade at the time, ordered the monkey by writing dad’s credit card number on the postage-paid card from the magazine and sending it off.

Now, how many neighbors can top a story like that?

Unusual Lilies

Thanks sis for the beautiful lilies!! At the moment I can’t tell you the name of these even though my sister gave me three different lily plants in a large pot with their names in plastic planted with them. The orange and the pink lilies in the photos from yesterday bloomed the “normal” way, facing up or outward. I was so surprised when I saw these blooming up side down. Aren’t they gorgeous!!

Bumblebees and Gardens

These are some flowers in my garden. This is the garden’s second season (my sister designed and planted it in 2006) and I love watching the garden grow and change. I was somewhat fearful (scared stiff really) of bumblebees, but now I have hundreds (maybe not quite that many but lots and lots) of them and they are so busy with the flowers (see last photo) they don’t even know I exist. My bumblebee fear stems from my brother being stung on the face. He was a kid and probably just finished a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. One of his eyes swelled shut and his face got all strange looking. Since then, I’ve made a point of steering clear of bumblebees. Since I discovered they really do like flowers more than humans, it’s easy to do.

Father's Day Golf Quilt

I found golf theme fabric and of course, had to have it for no other reason than my husband is a golfer. I then had to find fabric to "go with" the focus fabric. UGH big time. I bought more coordinating fabric that didn't coordinate and sewed more blocks that I didn't use than . . . ever. I made two quilts and still have yards of the theme fabric left. I think I'll use it for backing or for something where I don't need to coordinate the colors. The rust isn't really rust, it's a reddish brownish; the yellow isn't really yellow, it's . . . haven't figured it out. After much trial and error I finally got the correct fabrics. I think my favorite color in the entire quilt is the brown.

I made it longer than usual to make sure it covered up dad from neck to toe. I know sunburn can leave a person feeling a little chilled and this quilt will surely keep him/her toasty.

Gardening Instead

Haven't been sewing this past week but have taken some photos of the garden. My sister designed and planted it last year in exchange for a quilt. One photo shows the garden as of May 23, 2006, the other photo shows the garden exactly 365 days later. The growth gain in one year is amazing. The only new ones this year are the potted ones.

We've had trouble with something eating the new growth on a few of the plants. We first added a short fence to keep the little critters out; that didn't work. I then set some mouse traps in hopes of scaring them off; I, unfortunately, did get some fur and thought I may have scared them, but alas, that was not the case. Then a neighbor told us about Liquid Fence. I ordered some over the internet but our wonderful neighbor delivered a bottle of it before my order came. I immediately went out and sprayed around the perimeter of the garden. Well, some of the perimeter. Liquid Fence has the most foul odor I have ever had the displeasure of being near, and I was raised on a dairy farm. My husband finished the spraying when he came home. Perhaps we missed a space on the perimeter as a plant was consumed that night. We haven't had visitors now for about two nights so maybe Liquid Fence is working. I'm guessing we'll know in a week or so.

My Finger Presser Tool

After finger pressing with this handy dandy tool, officially called the Clover Finger Presser, and more pressing with my wonderful but heavy Rowenta iron, the blocks are finally all completed. Since there were 912 of the 3.5 inch triangles, and all those little seams needed to be opened up (unusual in quilting) and then pressed, I was so glad I had purchased this little white tool years ago. I'm someone who sees a sewing tool and assumes that sometime in the future that tool will come in handy. To use this one, just push the point of it along the seam, which opens and presses it enough to gently and lightly slide an iron over the seam to keep it open. If only I could justify some of my other tool purchases. It took me about 14 hours to just sew and press those little seams open; a very time-consuming quilt this is turning out to be.

Slow progress

The quilt is slowly moving toward completion. I don't like the photo but it's the best I can come up with since it's in pieces hanging on a design wall. It’s actually a little further along than the photo shows. I’m not really happy with the cutting done for this quilt. I changed the rotary blade before cutting my last 30 or so hexagons and realized I had a dull blade – never a good thing, especially when cutting through eight layers of fabric. I usually change the rotary blade and the sewing machine needle when starting a new project but . . . I think I was so anxious to get started on this one that I just jumped in, and the result is less than perfect. These blocks flow into each other, so the preciseness isn't as critical as in other quilts. Sewing the blocks together is in process and I hopefully will finish that in the next day or so; then it's on to borders.

Please visit JabaroDesigns.etsy.com to see my quilts. While there, visit the other Etsy shops - everything handmade.

Design Wall Completed

This is really my second design wall. My first was a flannel-backed 5 foot by 7 foot tablecloth which I attached to the wall and used for almost seven years. It worked fine and the cost was perfect (really cheap) but I decided to make a quilt that I had to be able to see all the pieces at one time as the quilt is designed by the placement of the pieces. The photo shows the new design wall (two 4 foot by 8 foot pieces of rigid insulation covered in batting from a get-it-cheap fabric store) covered in pieces of the quilt which necessitated the new wall. Future postings will show progress of this wonderful quilt.

My husband installed this monster, with supervisory assistance from me. We taped the two sheets of insulation together, (you can faintly see the tape through the batting in the middle of the photo), covered it with the batting (using spray adhesive), and attached it to the wall using a leftover piece of molding. I love it. Thanks hubby!

Please visit JabaroDesigns.etsy.com to see my quilts. While there, visit the other Etsy shops - everything handmade.

Cardinals and My Computer

These cardinals are just outside our front window snacking away on a variety of bird seed. One female, one male, fat and happy. I think we have two pair of cardinals and we try (okay, my husband tries) to keep them fed so they keep returning. Much nicer to look at then my computer, which decided to quit running just as I'm ready to get a post up on my new blog.

Now, this is the n-th time this damn thing has quit on me and the cost of paying someone to get it going again each time has cost me, in total, the cost of a new computer. So, decided I had to get a new one. This is not something I want to do, not only because of the cost factor, but the time spent getting everything the way I want it to look is time consuming (for a novice) and very aggravating (for a novice). But, it's got to be done so . . .

My daughter's friend builds computers (not his for-money job but he's built many computers for family and friends) so decided to have him build me one. He ordered the parts, bolted (or whatever) it together, and I plugged it in. Everything seems fine except I have no sound. Guess my HP speakers don't work with a generic computer. Oh well, they weren't great anyway and since he put music on my computer (from CDs we have) I should get some decent speakers. Hopefully I'll get that done Thursday and everything will be working great once again.

Just Born, Jabaro Designs, the blog

April 23, 2007. Day after my husband's birthday. Had a wonderful dinner at Joey's Seafood last night; wonderful food. Daughter and MIL joined hubby and me. Today it's back to work for everyone.

I've been reading some of the Etsy blogs and decided I'd birth one today. Have a lot to learn, and really must get a banner or something for the top. So, that's it for this post, on to attempting to professionalize the site.