5 Minute Power Purge vs the 5 Second Power SURGE!

**Note** This post was written this afternoon before we lost internet service. 

It’s been out for 4 hours and I was freaking out about not having the ability to post our Grand Illusion Part 2 clue if it didn’t come back on.

IT’S BAAAAAACCCCK!

Now we carry on!

I tackled the demon closet today.

The linen closet in the upstairs bathroom.

And while I was pulling and culling old sheet sets, single pillow cases matching mates, fitted sheets with elastic corners that have lost their stretch due to decades of use and abuse by a growing family….

Our power blipped.

It bleeped.

It went POOF, and flickered and poofed again, and stayed off.


And my poor son ---somehow his end of the house was hardest hit –we were NOT in the middle of a storm of any kind, but they are working on the road somewhat near the house to widen it, and I have a feeling that someone did something of some sort with heavy equipment that caused all of the houses in my neighborhood to loose power for a time.

And when the power came back on – his computer did not.

And there I am in the bathroom surrounded by towels and sheets and linens and….why is this in here??  And I have a mad and angry son who is learning the lesson about mother nature, and that things happen beyond our control.  And one should invest in a better surge protector if you are going to have your big heavy fancy computer hooked up to any sort of electricity at all.

We learned this same lesson earlier this year when lightening struck the ground near the cabin and fried everything INCLUDING the high end surge protectors –they did their job.  The house did not catch fire…but electronics had to be replaced.

((IS this where I insert another  THIS IS WHY I SEW WITH VINTAGE MACHINES comment?!))

The horrible, terrible, black hole of a linen closet.

In my previous life before moving to North Carolina I was a full time long arm quilter, who went to massage therapy school because I thought I needed something that wouldn’t kill my love of quilting.  And I graduated first in my class, valedictorian at the young age of 43.  I had my own practice for a few years and then when we moved to North Carolina I had to make a choice if I would continue massage therapy, and did I really want to build up another full time practice from the ground up in a city and state where I knew not a soul?

Within 6 weeks I had a book deal with Kansas City Star ---and the decision was made for me.  But there was still a lot of massage clinic left overs in this closet.  Single bottom sheets for my massage table, face cradle covers, STUFF.  Oh.  And this:

Hello Kitty CD player.

And this:

Jeff and his baby quilt.

Early early Bonnie Quilt!

I made this quilt in December of 1989 – Jeff was due January of 1990.  Cotton and poly/cotton fabrics, poly batting, polly blend backing and binding.  I used what I had and what I could afford at the time.  I turned 28 2 days before Jeff was born.

The quilt came to the hospital when I went into labor, and he came home wrapped in it.

I forgot it was in this closet!  It’s kind of in embarrassing shape…but I can’t pitch it.  So much life and so much living has happened since this quilt was made on a $99.00 Kenmore machine sitting at the tiny kitchen table in our single wide mobile home.

I traced my fingers over each heart before folding the quilt and putting it back in the linen closet.  You know that old wive’s tale about how nylon quilting thread would tear the fabric over time?  It hasn’t happened with this one yet, it’s 24 years old and has seen a lot of hard use.

I’ll let you know if it ever DOES rip the fabric!

My baby pillow case!

My mama embroidered this for me when I was born.  As I look at how the letters are formed, I realize that that is HER hand writing…she used pencil to write my name and then embroidered it in stem stitch.

I’ll be 53 next month.

I have to keep this pillow case!  I don’t know what else to do with it….so I gently fold it and put it back on the shelf in the linen closet that isn’t looking so bad anymore.

Things we have and don’t know what to do with!

This is a tentmaker’s applique that I brought back from Paris several years ago.  A gift from Wil, I LOVE it ---but I am afraid to wash it because there are some places that are already coming undone….I don’t know how long she had it, but I don’t have a wall to hang it –but that applique!

All hand sewn!

Center --

I think she may have had it hanging on a wall at some time..the navy background is a bit faded in areas adding to the charm.

The appliqued top is sewn to a canvas backing – there is no batting in it.

I love this….yet I have no place to put it or display it, so it too gets re-folded and placed back into the nearly empty linen closet.  Some day I’ll know what to do, but I don’t have to decide now.

I was throwing linens to donate into the tub!

Hello miles of empty space!

The yellow, white, and green afghan up on the top shelf…my mom made that for me when I turned 16 or 17.  I have loved yellow for as long as I remember, and though I don’t use this afghan right now, I just can’t bear to part with it either.

Off to the donation center!

That was sure a load off!

Now that chore is done, guess what is on my agenda for tonight?

Guess what is coming tomorrow morning ??

Grand Illusion, PART 2!!

See you at daybreak!

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