Easter Sunday

 Kyle and Heather hosted brunch on Easter Sunday and I was included.   The food was yummy and we had a nice visit.  It was a smaller group this year, as Emily was also hosting which meant that The Chivers gang and Lois were at Michael and Emily's.  I enjoyed the smaller group,  we adults sat around the big round table and had a fun visit.  

We took one photo with a few of the kids before they left to play ⛳️  golf or take naps 😴. 

Jack, Uncle Larry, Aunt Lois, Stella
Uncle Harry, Aunt Wanda, Jude

I sat there all afternoon. It was nice. 

From there,  I stopped at a little kiosk on 4th Street and bought a beautiful loaf of carrot cake sour dough bread. I love the opportunity to buy home baked goods like this. 

Then I stopped at Bruce's.  We chatted and had a beer.  I dropped off a bag of books for him to read. 

My ride home was uneventful. A small herd of deer crossed Hwy 48 just out of Cumberland.  I had plenty of time to slow down.  It did make me chuckle a bit that they came out of the woods right next to a sign that was posting for No 🚫 Hunting. 

Several bunnies have been enjoying my back yard. 

Happy Spring.

Handyman Joy

 I have some good luck finding tradesmen, but today, took the cake.   

I needed to have a hole (plumber) in the bathroom wall repaired and found the contact information for The Plaid Handyman, Jim Johnson, on Facebook.  I sent him a photo and asked him if he would take the job. 

We made an appointment for this morning for him to look at what was needed and he showed up with the tools and supplies needed to do the work. 

In short order,  he had fixed the hole and started the process of taping and mudding.  

About supper time,  he came back for a second mudding. 

What a difference.  He will come back next week to texture that area and then I will paint.  I could not be more pleased.  $250 and it is off my list of things to fix. 

I also talked to him about putting a new storm door on my house. He was up for that job too. I'll do that next month. I'm starting a list now.  

I am feeling very lucky. 

And it is done

 We had another good quilt retreat, with old friends and new.  

The lake was very still this morning,  loons & swans were communicating. 

Today, I finished a little runner for Wanda.  Several camps ago,  Sharon had given me a zipper bag of 5 inch squares, with a pattern, Mini Brick Road.  I ran across it when I was packing up to go North, and I tossed it in. The squares didn't look like much until they assembled.  Now,  it's one of my favorite projects ever. 

I finished the quilting and the binding.  I guess I forgot to take a photo.  I still have not mastered the corners on binding.  But, I keep practicing. 

It was a beautiful morning.  The view of the lake from my room is nice and a small herd of deer walked by this morning

Packing up to leave is not the fun part,  but I'm home now and have hauled all my gear into the house. 

The cat is telling me a lot of stories. 

Life is good. 

Convergence

 I'm January of 2023, Mary & Sharon & I took a class to make a quilt called Convergence. The instructions were given during a Zoom session.  We each sewed a quilt top.  Mine was never finished.  

I ended up with another kit, so today, I worked on the 2 projects with the intent of making lap quilts for a couple of the great nieces/nephews. 

It's not my best work, but once quilted, I think they will be a nice lap quilts.

Day 2 of quilt camp is done.

Spring Quilt Retreat

Once again we gather at Solon Springs for a weekend of quilting.   The weather is finally very nice.  And my view is hard to beat. 

On my drive North I saw 7 hawks.  Six Red Tailed Hawks & 1 Cooper's Hawk.  I also saw several American Eagles  & one Vulture. It is a thrill to see those big raptors.  Without leaves on the trees, they are easier to spot, if you are looking. 

My first project was to finish the Barn Star Sampler runner that I started during the last virtual quilt retreat.  This was an icky project for me.  My precision is not what it could be for all those crazy points. 

It is really for quilting now. 

As usual,  we enjoyed happy hour before dinner. 

We shall see what tomorrow brings. 

Saving Stuff

 I'm slowly trying to donate unused stuff to local charities.  And,  I am trying not to add new items to the stuff collection. The battle is real 😃. 

One thing that has been in my mind is a collection of Lenox Christmas china.  I enjoyed acquiring these dishes over the years,  as gifts or by finding a sale.  I love the pattern,  the glaze,  the weight and the shapes of this china.  I don't have an exact complete set,  but I do have about a dozen dinner plates and a variety of other pieces; both serving and place setting. 

I've been using some odds and ends for my daily dishes.  (A few bone-china plates that were Great Aunt Bubble's handed down to me with her cedar chest of heirlooms.  A few dinner plates from Grandparents Johansen, Golden Wedding gifts that Gus had in his collection.  I have to say that I enjoyed using those old plates. I always thought of my Johansen grandparents as I held the cream colored plate with a scalloped gold edge.  The white bone china was beautiful and while I don't have many memories of great aunt Bubble, she did raise my Mom from age 3 to 16.) Breakage had claimed most of the old plates and I was ready for a change.  I tried shopping at thrift stores to pick up another mixed collection of vintage plates but had no success. I did pick up a few plates at the Dollar Store, but once I had them home, I was not happy. 

So,  I decided to start using my Christmas dishes every day.  Turns out to be a really great idea.  I love these dishes,  I feel joy when I eat off the dinner plates and I love how they feel and look.  Eventually,  somebody will have to figure out what to do with all the serving pieces. But for now,  I'm using these little beauties. 🎄 

More and more I ask myself,  what am I saving stuff for?

The Runner

 I finally sat in with the Zoom sewing group today, Quilting Friends.  I have not been with them since our last quilt retreat, no reason, just have not made the effort. 

It's always fun to sew and listen to the chat.  One woman has Covid for the first time and is slow to recover,  another is going on a quilting road trip to Paduka and was planning her car projects,  several are working on a Gudrun project from her retreat, one woman lives in Sun Valley where the FIS World Cup Skiers are competing this week, a few were discussing products that colorfast fabrics,  there are discussions on new products,  quilt shops, recipes,  pets,  sports and family news.  It makes the tedious piecing and pressing work go fast.  I think I was the only one sewing today, one or two were trimming & cutting, but most were just enjoying the social time. A few did some show & tell of finished blocks.

After today's work, I have all my blocks pieced & trimmed for my barn quilt runner.  Now,  it is time to start sewing them together.  I think this part might go easy.  🤞 I have a layout, so it's just a matter of following the directions. No doubt,  there will be unsewing involved.  

I ran across some yardage that I had from one of the Quilt Shop Hops, it is all Wisconsin scenes. The colors seem to fit with my barn quilt blocks. It will work well for the border. 

It's a UFO, but it is in process now.

✨️✨️✨️✨️

We have Robins here now. The first signs of Spring.  No signs of my daffodils tho.   Yesterday I had an ortho appointment in Eau Claire.  I noticed as I drove South, the trees are showing signs of life. Just 50 miles North/South really makes a difference in the arrival of Spring.

🌱🌱🌱

I joined the new Costco in Eau Claire yesterday.  They have DEI programs and are not bowing down to the current regime.  So,  I decided to join.  I have to say that their employers are really well trained in customer service.  I had to wait to buy my membership,  but I was not ignored.  Once it was my turn, the process was quick.  She didn't miss a chance to push the higher priced membership,  advising me that if I am buying hearing aids,  it would be worth it.  Hmm.

Anyway,  once I had credentials,  I headed in to the abyss to shop. I ended up with fruit mostly.  A bowl of mango slices was a little spendy,  but so yummy,  I'm already planning to go back to restock.  Rustic bread that was still warm,  another repeater.  It was fun,  I'm happy with my purchases and ended up ordering a new tablet off their website after researching on line once I got home.  I saved enough on the tablet to pay my membership,  so,  all in all 👍.  I'll be needing tires this fall,  they have options for my consideration.  Any Costco tips?  My friend G, told me that the rotisserie chickens come out at 11am and that they are big.  I'll work that into my next visit. 

🍗🍗🍗

She's a killer

 She's a stone, cold, killer. 

About 5am, Barley stalked & killed a mouse in my bedroom.  Then sat beside it, so proud of herself.  

One less mouse in the house,  but it was quite a murder scene.  

Just another day in the life of a 16 year old killer cat.

Another leak in the plumbing

🚿 🔧 💰 😭

More of the same,  2 fittings on the lines going to the shower were disintegrating.  The Plumber, Ross, thinks that they have been leaking for a very-long-time.  

I have quite a collection of these evil doers.

This time,  he had to cut a hole in the wall to fix. 

Uffda.
Gross & wet.

Short term, I tried to prop the drywall back in to stop a caravan of mice from coming in.  

For the moment,  access denied to crawl space dwellers.

Long term,  I'm going to cover the hole with this cabinet door. It matches the vanity. It will look fine and give access to that area if it is ever needed again. 

 Things have to dry out a bit first. I think by Sunday I should be able to fix it. 

Ross also fixed the shower faucet that was dripping.  I bought the cartridge planning to do it myself,  now it is done. Yay. 

So,  another fun day. Ugh! But now that's over. 

🏀🏀🏀

Rice Lake girls lost their first game at Green Bay,  they never really got into a rhythm. But at least they played at State.  The star players are soph & junior, likely they can run at it again next year with that experience under their belt. 

Spelling

 I recently 'pronounced' for the Regional Spelling Bee.  This was my 10th year as pronouncer.  We had 31 spellers from area schools.  The kids were prepared and confident.  After 10 rounds, we had our 4 top spellers, who will go on to spell at Madison in the State Spelling Bee. 

For me, this was my last year as Pronouncer.  I offered to judge, if ever needed,  but I resigned from the stressful responsibility of pronouncing. 

I always enjoy the day of the Bee, but find myself very anxious in the days leading up to the event.  It is time for a new face at the microphone. 

Things that make my day

 My Art Teacher niece, Erin, sent me this text today.  

It's fun to see my Christmas cards getting used in her classroom.  

Both cards at the top of her display are from me. 

Bonus, now we have instructions for making a Cardinal. 

UPDATE: The Cardinal unit is finished.

Drew ♥️

 This is the most meaningful donation that I have made in, probably my lifetime.  Not sure why I have not done it before,  but I decided to do this annually in honor of Drew.

♥️♥️♥️