The Reason for the Season

With all that is going on in the world it is more important than ever to make sure we remember that we celebrate the season for one reason only - Jesus.  If we could remember that and tell all of our friends and everyone could know, then maybe there really would be peace on earth!

Wishing you and yours the very Merriest of Christmases and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!

My heart goes out....

To the families of the victims in Sydney Australia, to the families of the victims in Pakistan. 

There are so many things going on in the world that are just not important, hug your kids, call your family and tell them you love them, smile at the person in line in front of you, let that car pull into your lane, drop some change in the red bucket for the Salvation Army, donate blood, give to the local food bank...evil is working overtime, we need to step up our game!

There is beauty in the world!

Monthly 9 Link Up

I missed this link up at the end of October as I was busy getting ready to take a little trip.  This then will encompass two months!  I too am having a hard time believing that once again December snuck up on me and now I will spend every spare minute getting ready to send gifts to the kids and Mom since we are continuing with the handmade Christmas this year!  (I still think someone is removing a few days from my calendar as my years are getting shorter!  It's probably the government!)  So here goes for October and November -

Beautiful pine tree after the frost.

Nourish- Ahh, the weather gets colder and my soups get thicker!  I confess we are soup lovers even in the heat of the summer.  Summer soups though are clear broth or cold soups.  Winter soups are thick and chunky and sometimes even creamy!  I try to make it through the whole summer without turning on the oven and then the minute it gets cold the oven begins to call to me and urge me to use it!  The bread dough comes out of the machine and goes into the pans in the oven, cookie dough is in the freezer just waiting for an excuse to come out!  I also took bags of home canned goods to the kids this month.

Prepare- Oct/Nov was rotate month for us.  All of our canned goods that we keep on hand for emergencies like snowstorms and bad roads and power outages  (and EMP's - we are those kind of people!) need to be rotated in and out of the storage.  We like to pull them out before they get to the use by date.  This has become an annual thing and it works well to do it in November as it helps to kind of save money on food in December when something always comes up!  So we have eaten a lot of canned veggies and some canned meat.  We buy new all during the year so it is not a huge expense to replace.  Each year we have less and less store bought emergency food and more and more home canned and preserved.  During this last storm when it fell so hard and fast the road crews never caught up, we didn't want to brave the treacherous icy roads and didn't leave the house for a week.  What a good feeling to know we didn't have to worry about food (and toilet paper - always have extra of that) and just concentrated on staying warm and snug!

Reduce- I am going to share a little of what my mother is going through right now and for that last couple of weeks as a cautionary tale.  My mom and her two sisters have to go through Grandmas house now to get it ready to sell.  They are cleaning out every nook and cranny and it turns out Grandma and Grandad may not have ever thrown anything away!  Canceled checks from 60 years ago, a bank book from before they got married in 1931!  So there are my mom and her sisters going through all this collection of stuff - Mom says she will go home and immediately start going through her drawers and only save things that are valuable from a monetary or sentimental view AND she will write down why they are important!  Let this be a lesson - make it a habit to look at all the things you keep and imagine someone going through your house saying "Oh my - why do you suppose she kept all this?!"  :)

This is the barn on my great grandfathers farm!

Green- I have eliminated all but a couple of my industrial cleaners in favor of vinegar, lemons and vodka (not to drink!) mixed together in various incarnations and strengths. 

Grow- Although growing season came to an abrupt end this month I managed to get to my friends house as she was going through and thinning her flowers, she gave me peony roots, day lily bulbs and hollyhock, morning glory and sunflower seeds!  We expanded the garden this year so next year I am hoping we will work more on landscaping and adding some flowers.

Create- The creative process is all secret this month as I have no time to do anything but gift work until it all gets done!

Discover- This month I am reading "The Makers Diet" by Jordan S Rubin and his journey from health to illness and back again.  It is a real eye opener on how sick processed foods can make you if you are susceptible! 

The Mausoleum

Enhance- When my friend and I were in California we made an effort to continue our Find A Grave work and took photos of several headstones in cemeteries that their relatives will never get to visit.  We had fun and did our part for family history!

Daddy (holding her), Miss Lily and Uncle Niel are dancing!

Enjoy- My trip to California was the highlight of my month, getting to see the kids and the lovely granddaughter, traveling with my good friend and doing the tourist thing in an area we both knew fairly well.  We even went to the awesome Mennonite Central Committee Quilt shop in Reedley CA, it is definitely worth a stop if you are ever in the area!






Well that about catches me up and be sure to check out the other blogs at this link HERE and see what everyone is doing.  Onward to December, and it is now time for Christmas Carols!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we will visit with friends and eat good food and remember to be thankful for all of our many blessings.  I am thankful for those of you who come here and share my ramblings and for those who have become 'friends'.  Thanksgiving comes in different times and manners in different places but this year especially with the world in such a turmoil I will stop and give thanks for my blessings and pray for the same for all of you!      Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am so thankful that I got to see and spend time with my grandmother this year.  Knowing that she would never get to hold Miss Lily in person we took a picture of her holding a picture on the laptop of Matthew, Amber and Lily, this photo then shows the 5 generations of the family alive at one time!

It is NOT winter yet!

So this week is Thanksgiving and we all think of things we are thankful for and we feel blessed and we gather with friends and family and it is a warm holiday for us.  I have decided this year I am thankful I don't live in BUFFALO, NY!  Yikes they got 7-8 feet of snow in 2 or 3 days, that is just frightening!  People there are worried about flooding and roof collapses!  Seriously we are praying for all of those in danger due to the freak weather system that moved through. 

That spider was really thinking positive yes?

We had 8 inches which is much easier to deal with!










 I got to hitch a ride to California with my friend Anita and we had a great time.  We got back the day after the big snow and the only place we had bad roads was between the freeway and our houses!

It seemed bigger when I was a kid!  :)

 We did the 'trip down memory lane' thing and went to our old schools.

Salute to WWII vets from the hometown!

We did the tourist thing in Exeter, CA.  They have around 30 murals all over the community and have been featured in several travel magazines.










We searched for family members in local cemeteries, we went on veterans day so we got to see the tail end of the ceremony and all the flags around the cemetery. (very moving)







And of course I got to see Miss Lily!!!, who is 6 months old now and just starting to crawl and ever so cute!

I got to babysit and spend lots of time with her.

It was a wonderful trip and much fun and we may do it again sometime!

Tribute...

Grandma went home to be with the Lord 11/8/2014 at the age of 102! She was an amazing woman and an inspiring one as well. She said she never didn't eat what she wanted and she was well known for never uttering a word of gossip. She painted and quilted, cooked and farmed, if the tin on the barn roof was blown off she got up there and repaired it-she was amazing. She loved all of us, her family unconditionally and never saw our faults. We will miss her but I am so glad she is finally home and finally reunited with grandad. Thank you grandma - for all of it - walks and talks and spray painted macaroni covered cigar boxes!  So happy that she was able to be home til the end and that I got to see her recently and spend some more time with her.  It is never enough is it?

This was her official Obituary.  She was Awesome!!

Nellie Corine Medlin
(September 20, 1912 - November 8, 2014)

Nellie Medlin

Nellie Corine (Quint) Medlin left this world behind and went to her heavenly home on November 8, 2014. She was 102 years old and was able to live at her home under the loving care of her daughters until her passing.

Nellie was born September 20, 1912 in Sullivan County, MO to Walter and Charlotte (Hamilton) Quint, the seventh of nine children. On April 8, 1931 she married George William Medlin. To this union three daughters were born: Irma, Evelyn, and Ramah. They lived on a farm southeast of Unionville before moving in 1943 to their farm north of Omaha. They enjoyed 53 years together before George’s passing. Nellie then moved to Unionville, MO.

Nellie spent her life serving others. She worked side by side on the farm with George, raised very large gardens, sewed clothes for her family, played music with her family at local churches, taught Sunday School and VBS at the Mount Hermon Church and Omaha Baptist Church, played the accordion at church and at nursing homes, made quilts and paintings for family members, and shared her many talents with others. Nellie was a self-taught natural musician and could play the accordion, piano, guitar, banjo, and mandolin. She was always willing to try new things and proved that age was not going to hold her back. She started oil painting at the age of 69, went white water rafting at 80, traveled to Alaska at 85, rode an ultra-light glider at 90, shot a crossbow at 95, and learned to Skype at 100.

Nellie was a Christian example to everyone she met, being kind and compassionate, forgiving, slow to anger, joyful always, and giving thanks in all circumstances. The lessons she taught her family and the memories she created will be greatly cherished.

Nellie was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two son-in-laws, Niel Kiehn and Richard Morgan, one grandson, Courtney Dean Morgan, six brothers (Carl, Ross, Victor, Alva, Harry, and Glen Quint) and two sisters, Carmoleta Minear and Pauline Lewis.

Nellie is survived by her daughters Irma Kiehn of Exeter, CA; Evelyn Morgan of Pollock, MO; and Ramah (Richard) Dias of Hollister, CA. She is also survived by nine grandchildren: Kathy (Dave) Gates, Shawn (Edna) Kiehn, Rhonda (Steve) Rios, Nancy (R.G.) Lowry, Tonja (Ronnie) Wessel, Kym Jones, Chris Dias, Terry Jackson, and Shelly (Gary) Mort, 20 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren. She is also survived by two sister-in-laws, Uarda Quint and Mary Pickett. 

This was Grandma at her 100th Birthday Party!

 

It's a Chicken Soup day!

It is rainy and kind of windy and pretty cold, about 40 degrees, so this is what I think of as chicken noodle soup weather.  I'm really not a snob of any kind including food, but I confess to being something of a chicken soup purist.  All that is in my soup is chicken, bay leaf, salt, a stick of celery and just a little onion.  I like using chicken thighs as the dark meat seems to make the best broth, I'm sure it is the fat content or something.  I put all the ingredients in a pot in the morning and bring to a boil, it then gets turned down to low and left there to simmer for several hours.  (The house smells wonderful in an hour or two)

When I think it is done I take out the big pieces with a slotted spoon or strainer, just depends on how much work I want to put into it. (if we are having company I use the strainer, just for us the slotted spoon is fine)







I like to leave the fat on the broth, mmmmm...good!
It is, by the way, the fat that contains the substance that scientists have pointed to as helping with a cold, which our grandmothers knew already!  :)







Now you can use any noodle you like - if you buy them I like a kosher egg noodle.  My favorite noodles however are the homemade ones, the soup and the noodles are my paternal grandmothers recipe.  She was a good German cook!

Noodles - 
Mix together about 4 cups flour and  4 or 5 eggs, a dash (1/4 tsp) of salt and rub a little oil on your hands when you get ready to turn it out on the rolling surface.  Since eggs come in different sizes I add 4 then if it is not moist enough I add another.  This is an incredibly stiff dough and quite honestly if I did not have the pasta maker my thumbs couldn't do this anymore.

I cut it into little balls and start putting it through the
pasta machine

  I put it through 2 or three times to get the texture I like.  If you do it by hand (rolling it out) it should be very thin.











Let this dry for awhile, ideally for several hours, however if you don't decide what to have for dinner till the last minute like me you can let dry just a little while, you just have to be more careful when cutting as the pieces will stick together more.  So while the noodles dry I will tell you how my grandma told me how she learned to make noodles.  My grandfathers mother was blind, but she made the best noodles, so grandma learned from her, she would take the rolled out noodle dough in to mother-in-law and she would feel it and say "No it needs to be a little thinner, or yes it is perfect!"  Grandma would lay the rounds out on tea towels on the bed and  let them dry,  then she would roll them up like a burrito and cut them thin as paper.  I never got my noodles that thin.  Apparently a good German girl of the day had thin noodles!  I use the lovely pasta machine that grandma had as she got older and it works for me! 

 It is a hand crank and the noodle cutter is an add on, they make different cutter add-ons for different noodles.

I cut the pieces of dough to length desired for noodles and then run them through the machine.  If you choose to do them by hand and you like thick noodles a pizza cutter is another good tool to use.  My family likes noodles of all kinds and we have used them all!

When the noodles have dried for a half hour or so we turn up the broth and turn them in.  The thin noodles cook quickly, if they are thick you will need to bite into one or two and see if the center is cooked!







A little homemade bread and the chicken meat either in the bowl or on the side and this is a guaranteed warming meal!  If you make a lot of noodles they can be dried and kept, I always put them in a bag in the freezer.

During the depression grandma used to feed threshing crews, so if there was not enough chicken to flavor the broth she would add ketchup.  To this day I eat my chicken soup this way because my dad liked it this way!  Only homemade though!  The ketchup is added individually as the people who marry into the family think this is horrible!  :)

Enjoy!

New Old Skirt

So I had mentioned that I was going to try to make a couple of my old favorite skirts fit again and I have one down in the project pile.  I bought these when I still worked in an office between 1993 and 1997....I have gained weight since then, 2 sizes to be honest.  but I loved these skirts, they are that rayon fabric that hangs so nice and, well you see where my head is here.  I had a plan - why couldn't I just add some fabric in to the sides high enough that it wouldn't show and voila!  I was thinking of maternity panels (sigh-those were so comfy!) but on the sides. 

HUGE DISCLAIMER!  Please understand that if anyone with an ounce of sewing talent or education reads this they will cringe!  I am a slapdash seamstress, I am not particularly careful many times and I just sort of get to the end somehow and most of the time it turns out OK but sometimes it doesn't!  (I don't show you those)  This is not something you can do to a skirt that you want to tuck a shirt into.  Lucky for me my shirt tucking days were over by the time the 3rd kid had come along!

I tried on the skirt and figured out how many inches to add -ugh!  I removed the zipper from one side and used that as my 'how far down marker', I then cut through the waistband on the other seam and gently took out the seam down as far as the zipper had come.

I decided to use some stretchy black fabric from a skirt I had made recently for the insert, as the background of the skirt was gray/black.  I cut out a sort of triangle just hoping the shape would work.  To do it again I would make a point at the bottom as I ended up having to make some adjustments  there.

I sewed the triangle into the seams. (making the above mentioned adjustments so it didn't turn in to a pocket) I went ahead and used the maroon thread which showed the stitching well and won't be seen unless I hang upside down somewhere!  (only slightly less likely than tucking my shirt in)

I turned under the waistband portion and sewed in place, the fabric was stretchy enough that I didn't feel the need for elastic inside.  I tried it on and it fit!  Hooray! 


The best part of this little redo is that this skirt came with a shirt to match (also rayon, also much loved) but the shirt had actually worn out - frayed at the cuffs etc.  I found the exact same shirt in the larger size in the thrift shop where my mom volunteers, with the tag still on it, never worn, during a sale when all shirts were $2!

So here is the outfit that I wore to church last Sunday that cost a total of $2. (did I mention that I used a spool of thread that I brought home from Grandmas!) I got a couple of compliments and I am a happy camper!  I am figuring that I had already gotten my moneys worth out of it from the initial purchase!






Again - this is not a recommended method - but if you are looking for a little extra wear from a skirt that is too small this beats buying new as well as being more satisfying than cutting it into quilt scraps.

 

Stocking Up and Taking Stock

Things are slowing down - not the passage of time by the way - and it is time to look back at what worked, what did not work and what still needs to be done. 

 

 

 

Hubby may make a couple more of these!

Worked - The small raised bed in the garden using 2x4's rather than the great huge raised bed in the yard that cannot be moved.  The small raised bed was moved a couple of times and will go to a different place in the garden next year in the rotation of things, it was perfect for protecting the lettuce and the little green onions and the carrots while they were tender. We will work on better drainage for it next time.

There is soil there!

Did not work - Flood irrigating the garden!  Hubby really, really wanted this to work and even he is talking of putting a better border around the garden to keep the water if not out then at least in channels.  I understand the desire for this to work but really if you water the weeds as well - guess what?!  Yeah, the weeds have taken over and I am waiting for a hard frost to kill them!

Worked - Broccoli - This will definitely be on the list for next year, this was our first attempt at the stuff and we even have some in the freezer, it is one of our favorite veggies and next year we will try to do a spring and a fall planting of it.







Worked - Onions, we had much better luck with the onion sets we put out this year, got a lot of good sized onions, next year we would like to try two or three different types.

Did not work - bare root berries - we planted blackberries and blueberries and by the end of summer we had - wait for it - sticks in the ground!  Next year we will buy the plants, we have never had good luck with bare roots other than roses!

Worked - Corn in small 'stands', they were thick enough to pollinate well and hold each other up.  We also planted 3 plantings and just last weekend ate the last of the corn on the cob as well as had some to give away and freeze during the season.





As mentioned before I am waiting for a good hard frost to kill the weeds and then I will get in there and rake and rototill for the winter.  I am already laying out the plans for next years 'crop rotation' and planning for seeds I will need to order and we have saved some seeds this year of our own for the first time, we will see how that goes as well.  This gardening thing is sort of a year round endeavor! 

But for now - it is fall, the trees are turning beautiful (and the leaves are still on them!), the Cardinals are in the playoffs, the Broncos won this last Sunday and it is almost cold enough to wear a coat! 
Miss Lily is growing by leaps and bounds and is still beautiful we think!

5 1/2 months isn't she lovely?!

Life is good!

Slow Living Monthly 9

I can see the evidence of fall but just can't believe the summer went so fast!  I was in Missouri at the begining of September so am going to include two months worth of info and doings.

 Here is our slow living monthly link up for September. 

Nourish - The oven can now come back into use!  We do not have central heat or air conditioning and I sort of pride myself on not turning the oven on in the summer so as not to heat up the house more than needful.  I tend to get real excited about the cooler weather and the fun of having an oven again!  Made pull apart bread and homemade cookies already.   Have gone back to bread baking in the oven.  (In the summer the bread is made in the bread machine as a rule)  As the weather cools down the oven is used more and more and helps to heat this part of the house a little extra.

Prepare - Since  I knew I would be gone in August, I did most of my canning and pickling in July, fortunately the weather and the harvest cooperated.  Hubby became a master at freezing tomatoes while I was gone - we have bags of tomatoes with onions, or garlic or peppers in our new freezer!  (I still think he bought the freezer at that moment because he was afraid I would ask him to water bath everything!)  I will not complain, a freezer is something I have wanted for a long time, and it doesn't matter why we got it, it's there.  Since I got home (September 10th) I have finished off the cucumbers by doing a batch of dill

Cucumbers and corn on the same stalk!

relish, and taking the Armenian cucumbers to Bible Study and forcing friends to take them home with them!  While I liked the flavor, and they were very productive I will not plant them again as they just took over the garden and even ended up climbing my corn stalks!  (Hubby and I referred to them as our "zucchini crop" for the year!)  There are still a few carrots, a couple of cantaloupe, a watermelon and a few hardy tomatoes left in the garden.  The herbs did grow back after the cutting I did on them in July and this week I will start bringing them in to preserve for the winter, before we get a frost.

Reduce - I recently did a post on my "granny squares of grandmas yarn" which uses up all the old scraps of yarn she had.  I have also dug out my old skirts from several years ago when I dressed up for work and church.  I like skirts and jumpers etc, and have just gotten out of the habit of wearing them.  At our new church more of the women wear skirts and dresses so my project this month is to do alterations on the skirts so that they fit the body I have at almost 60 rather than the one I had at 40! (sigh...I suppose you guessed I am not making them slimmer!?) I am cutting off the tops and adding yokes and elastic waistbands.  I haven't tucked a shirt in for years and this will add years more life to these outfits that I spent good money on at the time to get quality goods.  Pictures will be forthcoming. (if it works)

Green - I have run out of ideas for this category, we have just done the usual, composting, recycling etc.

Grow - Ah, the "close in" woodpile, growing and ready for winter.  The rest of it is out in the barn and will be used on days when it is not too cold or wet to go the distance.  Keeping a supply close to the door makes the 'blizzardy' days a little easier.  I know there are those who do not think that wood stoves are very 'green'.  Let me make my case - The wood we buy is from fruit orchards that are being cut down to make room for young new trees, our wood stove is EPA rated at the highest efficiency (when we are burning you can't even see smoke coming from the chimney!) - last year we heated our home during a very long and cold winter on just a cord and a half of firewood!  So let me know if you disagree (nicely please!)


Create - All of my creativity recently has been focused on my crochet hooks or my sewing machine!  I am in the process of creating a new website that is requiring me to relearn the html that I knew a few years back and then forgot!  This is a family history website and will hopefully give me enough space for the whole lot of it!

Discover - During my time in Missouri I joined the Putnam County Genealogical Society and read the entire 2 volume set "A history of Putnam County".  It has histories submitted by families in the area and stories about local landmarks from newspaper accounts etc.  I have a hard time convincing my kids or husband that this was an 'awesome read' but it's OK, someday people will call me eccentric and they will just be old!! 

Enhance - My time with Grandma and Mom was my 'enhance' time this recent period.  I feel so blessed to have been able to help get grandma get out and about and take drives and go visiting.  Grandma has continued to get weaker and is failing now, she is pretty much bed fast and ready to go home to be with the Lord.  I hope I can help now by encouraging my mom and making her laugh now and then, I am so glad that mom is able to make this effort to see that her mom remains at home till the end.  (so proud of her...told grandma she was lucky - she gets to be 102 and her 80 year old daughter is still in good enough shape to take care of her!)  It probably won't be long now though and that is a good thing.
 

Home of a champion!

Enjoy - We went with friends to the Boise "Tour de Coop" tour of urban gardens and chicken coops.  There were 7 houses on the tour and each had interesting gardens and different kinds of hen-houses.  What fun to see all the decor and planting ideas. we even got to see the Western Idaho Fair Grand Champion Rooster!  Very cool of these families to open their yards to a bunch of strangers, we had a lot of fun and learned a lot about backyard chicken raising. (this is an eventual goal of ours) The houses ranged from the edge of town up in the hills to right downtown in high density housing and from 2 to 10 birds.  We learned about the laws and regulations and about keeping the flock warm in the winter.  A good time was had by all, and we even won a door prize! (a cool cookbook and a dishtowel/oven mitt combo with...you guessed it- chickens on it) 

The bridge across the river and hubby

Hubby and I also went fishing on the Snake River (OK he fishes and I take a crossword puzzle and my crocheting - and of course a lunch!) The fish were not biting but the day was beautiful!











Be sure to check out the other blogs on the Monthly 9 here

A Case of the "Myehs"

While there is a mystery title in there somewhere (the case of the....) what I am really suffering from is more along the lines of the blahs, but a little different, perhaps more like a fugue....Sigh!  See this is where I have been since getting home from Grandmas.

First there was the ankle; while I was taking photos of the cemeteries in Unionville and the surrounding area, I had a mishap.  I was not watching where I was going and stepped in a hole.  (not the big kind in a cemetery; the kind gophers and voles make!)  My ankle twisted, I heard a terrible popping sound and sat down immediately (because I couldn't stand up)!  Many things were running through my mind at this point - "I think I broke something, I can't call Mom to come get me as I have the car, I refuse to call emergency and try to convince  the ambulance to come to the graveyard."  Lucky for me when I did decide to stand up it was a little sore but ok to walk on.  So I did, and I got back to the house and it swelled up quite a bit and I soaked it in Epsom salts and then just went on doing what I was doing, a couple of days of limping and then it was just sore to the touch but ok to walk on, I figured I bruised it on the outside of my leg.  I walked

At least the brace goes with my slippers

through more cemeteries, ran the wheelchair up and down the hill to the house and went up and down the stairs several times a day.  Since it was still a little tender when I got home I decided to check it out and go to the doctor, she sent me for x-rays, I have a transverse distal fibula fracture!  This is not bad as it is half healed already and the doctor said to wear a brace for the next 3 weeks or so.  Somehow it seems worse now that I know what it is! (Sigh)






So I sat down and started to finish some of the crocheting that I had going and Hubby (bless his heart) decided that I needed to stay off of my ankle as much as possible so he started fixing meals and doing dishes, and I sat too long and started feeling 'myeh', like you do when you've been sick and not able to do stuff and..... I think I'm about over it!  I need to get going again and the weather is cooling down and I am feeling more energetic.

Look what I got done on the "granny squares out of grandma's yarn" though!  These are the yarns that grandma gave me and I thought I would use in my first granny square afghan.  I now have 31 done and will just keep making until I run out of yarn and then stitch them together!  Part of the fun is that only a few of the yarns match or coordinate so some are patterns and some are solids and it's been fun to figure out.



So I think my battle with the Myehs is about over and I need to dig out warmer clothes - Hurray!

Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jog...

I am home safe and sound and it is a good thing, even though I shed a few tears at leaving my Mom and Grandma.  :)  I come from a long line of weepy folks who can't say goodbye without tears!

In my 5 weeks there I managed, I think, to be a daily help (cleaning, cooking etc), took care of a couple of projects (scrubbing the deck, fixing the shower head) and helped Mom redo the upstairs bathroom. (stripping the wallpaper, spraying texture, painting, new towel bars and new shower curtain and bar)  I also managed to take a lot of photos of cemeteries for Find-A-Grave.com (over 100) crochet the last of her yarn into 15 granny squares for my 'Grandmas Yarn Afghan', and came very close to completing my needlework.  (sometimes watching grandma consisted of actually just watching her breathe when she was having trouble).  And of course with me as 'muscle' we were able to get grandma out for a drive or shopping or to the beauty parlour six times. 

Visiting her sister in law Uarda

The completed bathroom

During the time I was there we also did some cleaning out of her craft drawers.  I can tell you that my grandma is a pack-rat!  She actually used so many everyday items in clever ways that she was somewhat justified in saving all of this stuff, but the rest of us aren't that clever and some of it had to go!  She had yards of fabric that us girls (the cousins) split up amongst the two of us who sew, and thread, pattern books, patterns she sent for 'mail order', zippers she took out of old clothes to use in new, iron on transfers, blanket binding (for all the baby blankets she made over the years), snaps and buttons, rick-rack!  I will brag a little here about my skills in packing, I took two suitcases (pilot bags) there and mailed a flat rate postal box and got home with all of the following (including of course the clothes I took there)-

The goal was to only take things I knew I would use and to not have to spend more money than it was worth to get it home.  Grandma was hoping that we could put all her stuff to good use - so we will try.

 Part of her quilting 'stash' came home with me

There is 7 and 8 yards of these fabrics for quilt backings, one of the stores in town sold out and all of these were pennies on the dollar.

Some are just quarters and some are already cut in 2 and 3 inch strips.

Some of her books like these are from the 40's and 50's,

Lots of buttons and thread- some of this is really old, one of the eyelet packages has a drawing of a woman with a corset! Snaps, and overall buckles, needles and crochet thread for doilies, I even have her old thimble and little snip scissors!

And her quilting books and patterns, some of these are her templates for quilts I have seen.  Does anyone else remember Capper's weekly?  It was a old newspaper that catered to the farm family,  well,  grandma used to order patterns from them and some of them are here. (Capper's is still around as a bi monthly magazine celebrating rural life)






All of this has to be put away now and every now and then I will pull something out and use it and think of grandma which is how I think she wants it to happen. 

Aack!  I need a tissue again! sniff...