Things Lost, Things Found, Things Repurposed!

Well, hello there!

My giraffe!  I found my giraffe!

I’ve been searching for it high and low since moving fully into the Quiltville Post Office.

I thought it must be still in the basement studio in Wallburg when it couldn’t be located in the basement studio at the cabin.  It was neither.

But I hadn’t been able to locate it at the QPO either – and then last night as I was drifting off to sleep after a very busy day of appointments, and a 100 mile drive to Virginia I let my mind wander back.

I flew home from San Luis Obispo on a Sunday night – and the next day, the Longarm Doc came. It was a furry of packing and shuffling and loading and moving – where things went really nuts was the fact that we ended up heading to Virginia THAT NIGHT instead of the next morning so we could get the machine set up and send The Doc on his way -

Directions from Stick n Stitch package

Trimming excess away before the big rinse.

Dissolving the rest away!

Blocking on a towel.

I had remembered rinsing the Stick n Stitch off of my embroidery (Boy was that slick!)  and drying it on a towel…and then…where did it go from there?

Evidently I took the dried stitchery and the fabrics to go with it and threw it in a bin of brown strings for transport to the QPO!  Where it has been buried under other string bins since July.  It’s been close enough to touch on so many occasions, my knees so very close to it as I quilted my own quilts, Kim’s quilt, and Mona’s quilts over the past few weeks.

My brain is a sieve. but what was lost is now FOUND and I am ready to get some fun pieced borders on this – it needs to be ready for our Kenya trip coming up, and I need to prepare the other stitchery kits for my Kenya travelers as well.  Weeee!  October is getting closer all the time!

If this works well as a carry around hand project for my travelers, I think I’ll do others as well – we have a Christmas Market tour in Bavaria/Austria coming up in December.

Things re-purposed -

Remember the huge spring storm that flung my glass table top over the railing smashing it to bits – because I – like a stupid dunce – didn’t remember to shut the umbrella before leaving the cabin?

The Hubster has mad tile setting skills!  I dare any breeze to now take THIS table and send it over the edge.

But also notice that there is no hole for an umbrella..LOL!  Lesson learned on that one!

We used the table frame underneath, tiled a table top and framed it with wood edging that he stained.  Those corners are mitered!

And it is much more usable than the old round glass one – There is actually ROOM on the table for eating outside, where before we had to do everything buffet style, and only bring the plates outside.

So glad to be back where mornings are cool!

It was 65 this morning at 7:30am.

Revisiting the OLD -

This was our home for the 5 years we lived in Burley, Idaho.

You know that saying where “You can never go home again?!”  The Hubster is in Oregon visiting his brother, and he flew into Salt Lake to play golf with some friends, and drive up to Idaho and then further on to Oregon, stopping in Burley to visit some other folks we knew from when we lived there.  Yes, he is a social butterfly.  LOL.

He drove past “the old house” and then sent me the photo saying “You really don’t want to know…….”

I loved this house.  It was built around 1914, still had all the original built ins in the living room and kitchen – the window seat in the bay window of the dining room – my first long arm machine resided here – in the basement. I loved its double lot (I had a huge garden and did tons of canning.) and tree lined streets in walking distance to the Post Office, park, library, schools, grocery – it was even walking distance to the Dairy Queen where we often strolled on Saturday evenings in the summer. (My Buster Bar penchant was born in Burley!)

There used to be big bushes of bleeding heart on either side of the front steps - I loved them dearly.

This was where I lived when we FIRST got internet at home - I discovered quilting email lists and chat rooms and life forever changed!

There was a $1.50 movie theater also in walking distance, and as money was always tight, my purse held plenty of contraband to keep hungry boys happy.

To the folks who live there now – it’s nearly September, so you may as well leave the Christmas lights right where they are, you can consider yourselves ahead of the game.

No, you can never go home again – but seeing this photo and talking about it has brought up so many wonderful memories. And then that strange feeling of hindsight as you tell yourself. "You've come a long way, Baby!"

To the self I was back then - Could you have ever imagined you'd end up where you are now?

This morning I am hitting the ground running – there is a STACK of mail to go through.  There are orders to get out.  But I’m in my happy place and hope to be sewing by evening time…..

Also:  I wanted to mention that due to the increasing annoyance of spammers posting really FOUL stuff to the comments section of my blog posts, I have switched to screening ALL comments before they are posted.  

I apologize if it takes some time before your comment shows up, I just can't see any other way to deal with the garbage, and it takes longer to clean it up if I let it post, than to just approve things as they come in as I am able.

Thank you for your understanding!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Sometimes we have to face it, we can't control creativity it needs to follow its own direction!

Nine in the middle quilt from my book Adventures with Leaders & Enders now resides with my sister and her family.

Have an awesome Tuesday, everyone!