all day sewing

One of the quilt groups I belong to, Mt Washington Quilting Bees, had made arrangements with the extension office to use their large rooms to have an all day sewing day.

We had use of the room from 9am to 9pm!

Everyone brought tote bags full of stuff to work on. Some did hand work...appliqueing and hand quilting...

that's our extension agent, Ruth, standing

Most brought their sewing machines...

There were ironing boards  and irons there for us to use and also a counter height cutting table.

One of the ladies brought her granddaughter for a few hours...

The owner of the local quilt shop brought a few items to sell in case anyone forgot anything. She also did a demonstration.

One of the members of our group was selling some of her excess fabric cheap...and then donating the proceeds to a community charity.

And we all brought food for a potluck lunch and dinner....

there were a few desserts.....in case we started feeling a little bit peaked in the afternoon...

Altogether, there were about 29 of us there. Some stayed a few hours - some left and came back. There were still quite a few sewing when I left around 7:30 pm.

We might have done more talking and eating than sewing...but it was a fun time. Several ladies said they would like to do this a couple of times a year.  

I suggested that maybe January and July would be good months to put it on the schedule. When it's so cold or so hot that you don't mind spending a day inside.

mailboxes need attention too

Have you ever got one of these? It's a form from our mail person letting us know that our mail box needs to be straightened up.

I have to agree...it's leaning way over to one side.

We hate to do anything to it.  It's been awhile since it's been hit by a car and we don't want to jinx things.

Every time we've put up a new box someone manages to run off the road right there and knocks it down.

Just a few weeks ago a car went off and scratched a big gash in our newly resurfaced driveway. They did miss the mailbox and a telephone pole out there though.

It looks like we will have to go ahead and work on it. It should be easy digging after the rain we've had

Vanilla Pear Custard Kuchen

We had a lot of nice pears on hand last week. The Sasquatch brought a few from his trees, and then Lonnie's younger son brought a few up from Florida (along with some other fresh fruit).

Since there were a lot, I baked my one and only pear dessert recipe...

Vanilla Pear Custard Kuchen
Crust
1  1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
7 Tblsp. butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

3 ripe pears (or more-depending on size)peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Filling
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tblsp. flour
1 tsp. vanilla

For crust: mix flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Beat egg with vanilla and cut into flour mixture.

criss cross two knives repeatedly to cut in ingredients

 Pour this soft crumbly dough into a springform pan that's been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Using the back of a spoon, pat the mixture down to cover the bottom and about one and a half inches up the sides.

Arrange thinly sliced pears over crust and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare filling: beat egg, stir in sour cream, sugar, flour and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour filling over the hot baked pie and spread completely over pears.

Bake an additional 18 to 20 minutes. The custard should be soft...not liquid-but not dried  out either. Cool about 5 or 10 minutes then run a knife around sides of pan to loosen crust.

Remove the ring.

It makes a nice presentation!

Allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.

We had this for dessert after Sunday dinner of beef brisket, macaroni and cheese, scalloped tomatoes, mini corn muffins and a green salad.

I used an avocado that Chris brought from Florida in the salad, diced up over baby spring mix with Craisins and toasted walnuts.

memorial quilts

One of the quilting groups I belong to, Mt Washington Quilting Bees, has a tradition of members making blocks for "Memorial Quilts".

The way it works is; each member makes a block using this pattern and puts their name and date of birth on it. When enough blocks are finished (16), they are sewn together into a small quilt. Currently there are 3 complete quilts and some extra blocks that will go into a fourth one.

When a member passes away, the quilt with her block is displayed at the funeral home during visitation,then returned to our group afterwards.

I hid last names here for privacy

We can add any information we want to on our block. Some have just their birth year, some include the month and day, some have the town where they were born.

 Many are embroidered but it's okay to write the info...these quilts won't be used and laundered.

When this tradition was started, the blocks were to be sewn with only blue fabrics, but the the rule was relaxed and any color is okay.

 Of course, someone else has to fill in your date of passing. I believe a few blocks are just filled in completely for a deceased member.

These quilts are a good idea because it's something representing our group at each funeral, without the huge expense of sending flowers.

Very sweet in a sad way.

You won't see my name on there.  I am not going to make one...it would give me an ominous feeling.

guaranteed to crack

Winter before last, when we first talked to the pool company about putting in our new pool, I asked the representative if there would be any guarantee on the surrounding concrete.

"Yes", he said, ".... It's guaranteed to crack"

Well, he was true to his word and we have a few small cracks.

We wanted to get some filler in them before winter to prevent water from freezing in the cracks and making them bigger.
Lonnie picked up a bottle of cement crack filler at Lowes and on a warm sunny day, we went through a trial and error system of figuring out how to apply it.

The words "self leveling" on the bottle are a bit misleading. You might think you could just squeeze it over the crack and it would settle down in there.

No, you have to mash it in there with a small trowel (or a large screwdriver if you are too lazy to go look for your small trowel).

After that I lightly swept a towel over the filler to sort of feather the edges into the concrete.

It might lighten up and blend in more as it dries. Even if it doesn't, it's still better than a huge crack.

But really, if concrete people don't have to guarantee their work, then what motivates them to do their best job?

It seems like I talk about concrete a lot, doesn't it?

last day to get in the pool

October 2 and and it was in the upper 80's.

One last chance to hop in the pool. Probably the last hot day and also the pool company is coming next week to winterize it and put the cover on.

It was cold at first but okay after you get used to it.

Lonnie had his legs in for a while, but decided just to enjoy sitting in the sun instead of swimming. He doesn't have nearly as much built in insulation as I have.

 It's a good thing it will be covered up soon. We are already having a lot of leaves falling.

But I am glad I took this opportunity for one last pool day this year.

my energetic brother

My younger brother must have been first in line when they passed out the energy. He has an unbelievable amount of it.

He doesn't waste it either! He is always doing something productive! And doing it quickly! And doing it well!

Look at the way he has this board rigged up between the ladder and a window sill so he can sit on it to scrape peeling paint off of our uncle's house.  Clever thinking, wouldn't you say?

He probably went hiking or biking when he got finished scraping!

I have ideas of getting lots of things accomplished like he does...but those ideas seem to stay in the planning stage for a long time. I need to remember that "when you do stuff - stuff gets done".