An Ode to 2023

An Ode to 2023

 

Here we are at the end and beginning of 2023 & 2024,

I have much to be grateful and thankful for.

 

From me there is good news, our family tree is doing well,

The great-great niece & nephew layer continues to swell.

New babies are a source of joy in this world for parents and kin,

I'm happy for the new family and the lives that now begin.

 

In other news, there once was a fancy machine made by Husqvarna,

It was recently purchased by a seamer named Wanda.

My sewing hobby is more fun now and has moved up in prior-i-tee,

Like anything, having the best tools for the job is the enjoyment key.

 

It has many options and settings and is called a Brilliance seventy-five,

And, well, sometimes, is it AI?, it seems like it is alive.

I have discovered sewing on Zoom and I find it is a craze,

Surprisingly, Covid did leave behind a few tools that still amaze.

 

I have new online friends with skills in sewing that do not compare,

And we meet regularly via Zoom to chat, sew, and to share.

With friends, I traveled to quilt camp twice, one Fall and one Spring,

Sewing all day, and into the night, and finishing many projects that I bring.

 

I continue to enjoy watching youth sports from the bleachers,

I keep busy snapping photos of kids in action; they are such interesting creatures.

Live streaming makes for seeing more games without driving a mile,

A wonderful thing and these opportunities to stay involved, do make me smile.

 

The year marked the loss of several of my closest friends and dearest pals,

It is the worst downside of aging; I remember now that Dad did tell.

I still feel young in my mind, sometimes I find the years pass by too fast,

If only the human body was better engineered, to, pain-free, last and last.

 

Friends and family like you are a priceless gift never ending,

My sincere wishes for peace and health, to you I am sending.

Here's to a healthy, happy & safe New Year.  

Christmas Eve 2023

 Kyle and Heather and family hosted the entire family for Christmas Eve dinner and fun. 

Jude made a list of the evening's festivities.  That is pretty much the way the evening went.

Here are a few photos of the family. 

I'm wearing the earrings that Angie gave me when she was about 8 years old. 

Jude, Stella, Gage, Kyle, Heather, Jack, Ruby, Jens

Kris & Anders

Ivan, August, Aaron, Angela, Megan, Owen

Eliana, Gage, Jens, Milena, August, Owen, Ivan, Grandma Lois, Jude, Jack, Ruby, Megan, Stella, Anders

Ryan, Angela, Lois, Kyle, Kris

Wanda & Lois

It was a very nice evening. 

Life is good. 

Ansgar and Frederikke

 Cousin Gary recently posted on Facebook one of his Dad's report cards from elementary school.

It was fun to see my uncle Christian's good grades but more important to me, to see my grandparents signatures.

It is good to remember. 

On the Lille Jule Aften, I hope you remember to give an extra scoop of food to the birds or an extra treat to the cat & dog.  Also, be kind to the Nisse.

Walking Foot & stuff

I made the last Danish paper heart for 2023. It goes to great niece Milena who I share a birthday with. 

I've already decided on my design for 2024 & better get cutting, as there are some birthdays in early January. 

✂️✂️✂️✂️✂️

I'm working on quilting a puzzle-piece wreath that I put together several years ago.  I have added borders and today started the quilting of the backing, front & batting. 

It is going to look sharp. All that top stitching appeals to me.

Today, I figured out how to attach the walking foot to my Husqvarna. Also,  how to change a needle. 

 One of the women in my zoom sewing group bought the same machine as I did from The Fabric Patch in Ironwood, MI. She and I shared some of our learnings today,  that was a good thing. 

I ordered some red mini lights to attach around the edge,  much like I did for the Halloween piece.  I finally figured out that the best way to attach lights around the edge, is to use those little plastic fabric clips.

Anyway,  I made progress today on the wreath.   I think I might finish it tomorrow.  

🪡🧵🪡

Driving home after basketball last night, I stopped at Kwiktrip and 'powdered my nose'. Then I grabbed a small bag of potato chips for the rest of the drive & a bottle of Hershey's Chocolate syrup for the ice cream at home.

The clerk said,  " I see you are having chocolate chips."

I have to give it to her, she was quick, & funny. 👏👏👏

#Kwiktrip #latenighthumor

Life is good. 

Feeling good

 I took 4 big bags of clothing, shoes and purses to Goodwill today.   It felt good to be rid of those items I no longer fit, need or like.   I'm trying to reduce how much stuff is in the house.  Little by little,  I'm making progress. 

In my sewing room,  I'm trying to organize.  I ran across some squares that I had sewed about 5, or more, years ago when we still went to our quilt retreats at Oak Forest.

Today,  I sewed them into a pennant string and added a couple more squares with Wisconsin appliquéd on.  Now,  those squares look festive hanging on the fireplace.  They were at the bottom of a bin long enough. 

The weather was cooler temperature today but looks to warm up and maybe have rain on Christmas.  

That would be a first. 

More sewing

 I'm still working out the construction of the turkey wall hanging.  For now, the project is stalled at this stage.  

More to come on this.  

It's low priority, right now. 

I was digging through the closet and discovered a project I had started about 5 years ago at quilt camp.  It will work hanging on my new display rod.

It just needs some finishing. 

I'm planning another border and then a binding and maybe some embellishments. 

It was raining today.  Sometimes when it rains in December,  it is a bad thing, but it is warm and the low tonight will not reach freezing.  So,  the moisture is welcome. 

But what a difference from last year! 

The grass is greening up.  My neighbor was blowing leaves today. 

Most of the lakes are still mostly open. The weather looks to be warm throughout the rest of the year. 

So it goes. 

Zoom Sewing

 I really like this Zoom Sewing group that I got invited to join.  The topics of conversation are from soup to nuts.  I mostly sew while listening in, only turning on my microphone to ask the occasional question or to 'ooh & aah' over someone's project. 

Today, the discussion ranged from Northern Lights viewing to Electric Vehicles. So far,  they have stayed away from politics although today the hostess tiptoed around the Elon Musk controversy. 

I finished my Dresden Plate Halloween Neighborhood today.  I do think I will add orange lights but just how,  is still in my noodling stage. 

Sparkly lights make such a big difference. 

Next,  I got back to my Dresden Turkey.  This project is ready for backing,  except I need something in the blank circle in the bottom plate.  I am in the thinking stage deciding what to do with that space. 

But,  the plates are stitched down, so finishing will not take too long. 

I guess I'm having a seasonal quilt project hanging in the hallway now. 

And,  I even started sewing squares together to make a puzzle piece project.  Three hours of sewing can make for good productivity. 

Halloween Progress

 The roofs & hats are on. The whole plate has been fused to the background.

Next,  I will topstitch around the hats and roofs to give them some definition.

I have already spent about 400% more time on this than what I had planned. 

*****

Insomnia is normal for me,  tonight I decided to go to the sewing room. I don't usually get out of bed, thinking that if I'm not in bed, it's for sure I will not sleep.

 The roofs & the hats have been top stitched into place.  

I think I will add a black cat or two before the final quilting.

Now,  back to the bed. 💤💤💤

***

My sewing friend Sharon,  gifted me a cute pair of Christmas socks at lunch on Friday.  I thought that they would be very cute hanging on the fireplace. 

Back to Halloween

 The appliquéd blades are now sewn together into a plate.  

Put together, this project is quite busy.  Much to look at and notice.

The next step. It's to fuse the plate to the backing & then add the roof and witch hat embellishments.  There is also a pattern for a scary tree. 

I have busy few days coming up,  but I'm anxious to get to that step. 

👻☠️👻

Today,  I assembled my new Sew Steady acrylic extension table that is custom made to fit the Husqvarna Brilliance 75Q.

I'm happy with it, but I'm adjusting to how different everything is.  I'm wishing my table was about 3 inches lower,  I might have to cut off the legs.  

I sure love having the design board right behind my sewing chair. 

And I'm really liking having my mini ironing board right there too.  This is the sewing room I have dreamed of, minus the mess! I still have not reorganized since quilt camp. 

✂️🧷🧵🪡

This month is the 15th anniversary of Barley & Hops "gotcha" date.  Barley got to celebrate with a little vanilla ice cream. 

In truth, she gets a few licks most evenings when I enjoy a scoop of ice cream. In fact,  she let's me know if I try to get to bed without it. 

She's a healthy 15 year old cat and I am thankful for her companionship. 

Life is good. 

Basketball on Saturday

Luck School hosted a multi team basketball tournament on Saturday, both boys and girls teams were playing and both gyms were utilized.

I couldn't quite get myself there for game one, but I did get to see both of the afternoon games.

It was fun, Jens plays hard, the kids are in to it.

🏀🏀🏀

It was a family affair. 

Stella was keeping the book with Jude nearby, likely soaking up the how to's about that job.

Gage was on the whistle.  

It is good to see him involved with a sport that gave him so many exciting moments in his high school years.

I probably won't see Jens play again this year, but he is a good player, I am looking forward to watching him play next year.

🧡🏀

Playing with special effects.

 

A moment of holiday cheer

 Coming home from Cameron this afternoon, I had stopped at the store and was walking to my car, when I heard loud, Mexican Christmas music. 

Along came a semi, decorated with Christmas lights wrapped all around the cab & trailer & 2 big speakers propped up on the side mirrors.  They were pumping out the Christmas tunes.  

I hopped in my car and gave them a beep beep and they right away responded with a few air horn blasts.  It was such a surprise, and quite delightful.  I saw them again as I got closer to home, as they were driving far below to speed limit, headed North.  I am not sure the 'going-home-from-work folks' appreciated their entertainment as much as I did.

I was thinking that this was a totally random couple of dudes doing something silly, and that made me smile.  I was thinking, 'there's the spirit of Christmas driving down the road'.

But then , as I headed towards RL, I was reminded that it was the downtown holiday parade night, and that is where the Christmas semitruck was headed, not so random.  Owell, I had a few moments of wonderment.

🎄

A friend on Facebook commented on this little story of mine 

"It is always fun to see others enjoying the season..it can make your day!"

He nailed it.

Sewing room

 I'm trying to have the perfect sewing room, especially now that I have the fanciest sewing machine of my life. 

Today,  I moved my design wall (plastic table cloth hung on wall, felt side out) into the sewing room.  Now,  it is right behind my sewing chair.  I'm finding this to be very convenient and I was a little weary of it hanging in the kitchen / entry way hallway. The next step is to organize all the fabric and notions that I have accumulated.

I'm still working on the Halloween Dresden Neighborhood project.  I'm getting closer to the next step. 

I took a beauty shot of Barley sitting on my lap.   Earlier in the day, I caught her sleeping on my sewing chair and she was not interested in moving.  Whatta life.

Barley is celebrating 15 years on the throne. She is royalty in this castle. 

December is upon us.

Decorating

 It's nice to get some lights up now that winter has brought the longer nights. 

Tonight, I hung stars on the windows and put my Christmas tree up on the shelf.  It is a start.  I'll be adding more lights to the tree and a few more decorations around the house. 

Barley approves.

Ruby Anna

The Luck JV team traveled to Unity on Thursdsy night.  It was a very windy drive over and back, but the Luck team won,  so all worth it. 

It will be hard for me to see Ruby play very often at Luck due to the double header scheduling of gyms at Luck,  so I'm glad I got to see this W!

 Go Cardinals!