Real Life vs Social Media

Most people who post on FB or IG or relics like me who have a blog, only talk about the good and the great things that happen. Who wants to read about tragedy or wade through a bunch of complaining/whining/moaning? Not me. 

But last month we were evacuated from our home because the rain was serious and an actual flood was happening! I wasn't paying attention and was watching TV in my room when there was a pounding on the front door (note to Mel: buy a doorbell). It was the fire department telling me we had to go! Whoa Nelly. The kind fireman came in and carried Dave to the car, and brought his wheel chair too. Then we drove at a snail pace to my sister's house, usually 18 minutes away, but on this day it took over an hour. There were many streets closed and lots of traffic diverted, so it was a wet mess. 

The next day all the water was gone and we could return home to see what happened to us. 

This is our porch where debris reached almost to the front door. No water got into the house itself, thank God!

Our big flower pots got lifted by the water and floated into the neighboring yard. 

So of course I was feeling quite relieved. 

But then thinking the worst was over, I noticed that our AC was not producing cold air and it was getting hot in the house. Hmmm. I called my HVAC guys and they looked in the crawl space and saw that it had flooded and the ductwork was full of water which is why it was stinking like a sewer in the house. O dear.

So I just sat there for a day and did nothing. Delayed reaction I guess. 

Then I followed the advice they gave me and called the Fire and Flood pros. for a complete cleanup. Out went the ductwork, insulation and vapor barrier and lots of money. No flood insurance. 

Those bags are full of what was in my crawlspace. Notice the flower pots are back in place. 

So we had no AC and it was in the 90's, but my friend Ashleigh brought over a floor unit which kept us from total misery while we waited for part two of the recovery, the new ductwork and vapor barrier. We had fans going day and night for almost two weeks, with the front and back doors open for fresh air when it was cool at night. This invited in lots of flies, which I finally triumphed over, this week. 

Yes we now have AC and it is blissful. 

An offshoot of flooding was the boost the water gave my garden. As you can imagine the deep drink was just great for my viburnum, lilac bushes and lots of perennials. However the zinnias which were already about 5 feet tall, all fell down and some even broke, so I ended up pulling them out and now have lots of bare spots in the garden. O well. 

 Dead zinnias.

But there are other things that happened that turned out to be great. When the AC unit was in the living room I moved the tv in there (against all my decor beliefs) and the two big red recliners. And that meant finding room in the old studio space for the rest of the living room furniture. 

Turns out I really like having this be the living room. It feels like my sanctuary and I'm keeping it this way. It's where I am blogging from this very minute. Since that footage was taken, I have also moved the dining room table in and now I am considering new things for the former living room. Heehee. 

Now that the flood is over, the idea of having another one gives me the 'moves' again. My sister thoughtfully gave me permission to look at Zillow, which is so dangerous, as long time readers will attest.  But nothing spoke to me, as I love my little house,  and when given the options of ductwork from my HVAC guys, I chose the most sturdy and dependable setup which is guaranteed for ten years, and my goodness, I'll by 87 by then and you can just cart me off if it floods again.

Update and RETURN to Blogging

It has been a year since I blogged, whew! And I guess I thought it was over for good, but there seems to be a reason to come back and I will explain.

I have been busy caring for Dave and watching him disappear. 

He now has dementia big time, is wheelchair bound, and is incontinent. I had a night nurse for a while and a daytime one for three days a week but that all fizzled and I was caring for Dave on my own. Finally I bit the bullet and went with an agency, rather than finding replacement carers by word of mouth, and this new person will be here five days a week for five hours a day. This plan makes it easier on me and allows me to get back into being creative again.  

So in the meantime I have made lots of incremental changes in the way we live, adjusting to the needs that develop. But other things that have nothing to do with caregiving have happened too. One thing that really brought me peace, happiness and satisfaction was starting a knitting group at my church. I was able to do that when I had a consistent care person, and now I have three fabulous participants who bring me so much joy.

Ashleigh, Charlotte, Pamela and Joan who is not in the group but is modeling a vest I made.

I am the 'teacher' and have actually taught a crocheter to knit! We laugh and talk and sometimes eat, and make stuff. I am unloading lots of yarn ( and garments) in their direction which is so good for my overloaded yarn room. 

Which brings me to downsizing things...for a while I fantasized about building a Tiny House on my double lot here in Chattanooga, but eventually, having told everyone I was thinking of doing it, I realized that I already live in a tiny house and I just need to use it to work out my simplified living ideas. One thing I did was purchase a big super duper does everything toaster oven. Wha? It turns out that this jim dandy thing has really been a game changer. You know I love to bake but heating up the big gas oven for a couple of bisquits just seemed wasteful. With this puppy, I can do that as well as make a huge pizza without heating up the whole kitchen.  I use this every day and never use my regular oven at all.

I have also stopped using my dishwasher. Again, wha? One day I realized that I kept loading multiple cups and bowls into the dishwasher and then running a load which took forever to finish. Why not just wash and rinse the bowl and cup and reuse them an hour later. Duh. The offshoot of this is that I now habitually wipe down the counter and stove whenever I wash a few items. My kitchen is a lot cleaner than it was when I used to run the dishwasher. Who knew?

And then I looked at my yarn room and thought, could I use that space for a studio? It has a door, which I need, so I can close off the goings on in the rest of the house while I work, so I got right to it. 

I reorganized all that hanging yarn into the bins on the shelf above and voila! I have room for my fused fabric again. (some yarn got given away to my knitters, heehee). What had been in Rubbermaid bins is now up and accessible without having to rifle though those bins. Ten bins were emptied and donated to Goodwill. Phew! The space they took up! I moved my sewing stuff into this room and ordered a new work table which raises and lowers itself for specific tasks. I am ready to make stuff. 

Which brings me back to the blog. I keep seeing my old work on Pinterest and wishing I was still doing this fun stuff. Now I think and hope I can. Watch this space!

How I spent my summer

The garden was half a success and half a dismal failure. Mostly due to the fact that I expected the compost I bought to be really fertile and I didn't add any fertilizer which turned out to be a big mistake. The success part was the zinnias and other flowers, but the veggies were pitiful, with the exception of the sweet potatoes. We're having some today with our dinner.

Next year, I will not have a backyard garden and will stick to just the front yard, where I only have to deal with one hose and not that much in the way of bugs, and other critters.

  

It was a difficult time dealing with Dave as he has declined, even with the help from Hospice, but now things have evened out a bit and I have new strategies as well as better drugs for him and I am coping much better. 

These are the handles to the stove which I have to hide so he can't turn on the burners, and then forget to turn them off. Mostly I have to pre-empt him from being in the kitchen, and that saves a lot of mess and dangers.

My neighbor's cat, Luna, comes to visit and I love having her. But I am sticking to my guns about no more pets after Chumley goes. 

I busied myself with church and lots of clothes sewing, and recently just got back to knitting. 

 

This is Potzblitz #5 and it is all made from scrap yarns. Most of which were my hand dyed sock yarn. 

After that I became interested in watching Youtube knitters and got the itch to do some fancy stitches. 

I was inspired by a small shawl called the Turtle Dove Shawl, which I loved but found it too small to be useful. So as is my wont, I devised a way to make it bigger and added a bunch of new stitch patterns to fill in the space. I learned a lot while making this shawl ... mostly how to read a chart. I have been knitting for 51 years and managed never to learn this important knitting 'language'. It was a struggle at first, but I was determined not to let it get the best of me. Eventually I actually bought some graph paper and wrote out the symbols for the stitches I would be using on a chart. Now I feel like I graduated!

Next I wanted to conquer another area that has been too scary to try. Lace stitches. There are lots of YouTube videos and written instructions to follow, as well as the charts, but nothing seemed to work for me until I discovered that I have been purling incorrectly all my life! Duh! It has to do with wrapping the yarn over the needle, not under it as I had been doing. It never mattered until I tried to do lace, where the increases and decreases are a major element of the designs.

I kept practicing the right way to purl until it became natural, which took DAYS to conquer, but now I have it down and the samples look the way they are supposed to look. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

On a personal note: as I watch my husband lose his memory, I wondered how much I might also be sliding downhill. I am 76, and I want to keep my wits about me as long as I can, so this challenge of learning new knitting techniques has shown me that I may still have mental acuity. Or at least determination. 





Another thing that happened this summer was that my car got stolen, right from my driveway, on a Sunday morning while I was at church! I walked to church as usual and on my way home I noticed that the driveway was vacant of my car. The nerve of some people!  

I called the police, my insurance company and my sister, of course, and then began shopping for a new car online. Well, I just assumed my car would never be found, or worse, found and destroyed, so why not get a replacement? Monday I had Enterprise pick me up and I drove to Carmax and bought a new car. Just like that. Then two days later the police knocked on my door at 4am, saying that they found my car! 

O dear. 

I really like my new car...a 2021 Hyundai IONIQ, another hybrid. So when the old Lexus was returned to me two weeks later, I just went online and got a quote from Carmax and drove it over and sold it to them. Now that's the way I like it. 

The perps were caught and two of the other 'victims' of car theft and I had to go to court to testify, but by then the one bad guy skipped bail and so we have to go back when they rearrest him. The other people lived in really nice neighborhoods, so it really doesn't matter where you live. If they wanna steal your car, they will. 

OK...I think that catches up the gist of how I spent my summer. We did get a bunch of nice rain from the remnants of Helene, but no flooding or other damage. Thank God for that.

O Happy Day

 I am so encouraged by these two California gals who decided to purchase these pieces from me. First last week, I was contacted by a previous collector who wanted me to send her this little house quilt. 3 Pennywood Lane.

 

 Then her friend, also a former collector, emailed me and wanted to know what else I had available. I sent off pictures and she decided on this little house quilt. 5 Pennywood Lane. 

And also this one called Yellow Study.

And this one called Hotcakes #2.

And for good measure, a small painting called Pony.

On top of that, it finally rained and cooled off the really hot temperatures here. What a glorious day. 

Inspired by Gudrun

Here's my inspiration from the Gudrun Sjoden website. I love the mix of prints, the bib/yoke, the slight gather under the bib and of course the pockets. Just everything but the price, which even on sale is $62 too much for my pocketbook.  

  I made a quick sketch and figured I could use my standard pajama pattern, McCalls 5992, in large, so it would be like a jacket. I drew lines for each section I would be cutting from different prints. I had a set of five fat quarters in black and white, and an additional two yard piece. Here's is the resulting combination.

 

I added a bias band with extention ties instead of the plain neckline. 

This is the sorta thing that really gets my juices flowing. The process of figuring out how I can achieve something, and then the doing of it, resulting in exactly my style of garment. 

McCall's 7969

This popular pattern has been sewn by gobs of folks and even has its own hashtag on Instagram where I first came across it. I love the crossover, or surplice look and figured I ought to give it a try.

 
Here's my first version from 2023 made from Walmart cottons, just to see if I liked sewing it. I did, I really did. It has a raised waistline and hits at my narrowest spot. And that neckline is LOW but flattering. I have to wear a camisole or I look like I ought to be in Bridgerton. I added a tie belt and pocket, of course. 

 My next version was made from a vintage linen tablecloth and the bodice from leftovers of pants I made. I was enamored with the idea of using things that had been packed away or underused. I got that tablecloth at a resale store. 

 Now, this is not the same pattern, but it was inspired by those dresses. I just switched out the bodice and made the skirt pleated instead of gathered. Cotton from Joann's. I really should have learned that a drapey fabric would be best for a garment with full sleeves and skirt, but alas, I didn't. Still it works and I wear it with no hint of a decolletage.

 O and I pieced the back to add that slit and button loop. 

This is today's version. A short blouse instead of a dress. The changes I made on this were lengthening the bodice by 1.5", raising the neckline to be more demure and adding fancy pockets.  

I loved playing with this old Kaffe Fassett shot cotton stripe. I mitered the bias band and pocket edges.
Of course I matched the stripes as I attached the pockets. This top goes perfectly with the teal pants from last week. I'll get a lot of wear out of those as I now have three new tops to coordinate.

There was actually another one of these tops that I made using two red prints, but it was weird looking on a 76 year old and went to Goodwill.  Never took pictures.