Most of my outdoor photos are taken to celebrate our gloriously sunny New England days. Today we are celebrating the desperately needed rain.
All of the Lakes Region, where I live in New Hampshire, is under Severe Drought, as listed by the weather service. My well is still functioning but we are cautious and conservative with our water.
My very dear friend, Ilse, five doors down the street from me is not so fortunate. Her well is now dry and she cannot afford the $30,000 dollars to have it redrilled. She is using an outdoor rain barrel's water to bring in and flush her toilet. She's 84 and is caretaking Alfred, her 90 year old husband.
On Tuesday, at The Sunshine Club, Sue was working diligently on putting her white solid borders onto her Black Diamonds quilt top.
And yes, she is taking the time to do it right, smoothing across the center, then cutting two exactly the same and pinning the border onto the quilt top. Yeay, Sue!
My young friend, Matthew, still works at the Gilmanton Recycling Center, more affectionately known as, "The Dump."
The portable machine came with a local repair tag still on it and an ominous clear plastic bag with extra parts that was attached by a twist-tie. I feared that it had been brought in to be repaired and had been deemed unfix-able and so was brought to The Dump. But the cord and foot control were inside the plastic case, so we dared to hope for the best.
A few drops of oil were carefully administered to the oil holes up above and another hour or so of fiddling with the various tension controls were really worth our investment of time. We got it to sew and purr like a kitten with a full tummy!!
When I got home, I felt inspired to work on a few more of those Split 9-Patches that were a gifted orphan project to me from my good buddy, Stacey in North Carolina.
These are like potato chips!
Hope that you are well and sewing!
Linking up to Busy Hands. Link.
Linking up to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop. Link.
Linking up to Oh, Scrap! Link.
Linking up to Monday Making. Link.
All of the Lakes Region, where I live in New Hampshire, is under Severe Drought, as listed by the weather service. My well is still functioning but we are cautious and conservative with our water.
My very dear friend, Ilse, five doors down the street from me is not so fortunate. Her well is now dry and she cannot afford the $30,000 dollars to have it redrilled. She is using an outdoor rain barrel's water to bring in and flush her toilet. She's 84 and is caretaking Alfred, her 90 year old husband.
Fortunately,
Felix had not gone to the recycling center yet when Ilse was here visiting, so I
still had some rinsed and ready to recycle juice bottles. I gave her 4
large bottles of clean water and she was so relieved to have it because
my water is still clear. June, my neighbor right next door, has water but it
is cloudy and yellow/red from the iron deposits in her water.
So any rain at all is so very welcome!
The
wind and rain are taking away all the pretty colors and will leave us
(pun!) with spooky trees for Halloween.
Earlier this month, I clipped
some overgrowing vines from the back fence of the dogyard and crafted a bittersweet
twig wreath for Fall. It has an added fabric ribbon which I sewed for it, and some dried hydrangea blossoms.
Had to take down my Christmas wreath that had gotten left up all year,
for shame, LOL!
On Tuesday, at The Sunshine Club, Sue was working diligently on putting her white solid borders onto her Black Diamonds quilt top.
And yes, she is taking the time to do it right, smoothing across the center, then cutting two exactly the same and pinning the border onto the quilt top. Yeay, Sue!
Thank you, Bonnie K. Hunter for your most excellent instructions on this technique. Link.
My young friend, Matthew, still works at the Gilmanton Recycling Center, more affectionately known as, "The Dump."
We enjoy the benefits of their "Free Room," where "too-nice-to dump" items can be left for re-homing. Matthew found a Singer Stylist sewing machine there and got it for me.
When I brought the new to me Singer Stylist in to the Sunshine Club, Bev exclaimed that she had once owned one very similar machine! I was thrilled to have her help! There was no manual with it, but I will investigate that issue online soon.
The portable machine came with a local repair tag still on it and an ominous clear plastic bag with extra parts that was attached by a twist-tie. I feared that it had been brought in to be repaired and had been deemed unfix-able and so was brought to The Dump. But the cord and foot control were inside the plastic case, so we dared to hope for the best.
Bev fearlessly tackled unscrewing the bottom so that she could expertly dab on a wee bit of Singer lubricating grease on the gears. It took us an hour to get that bottom off, grease the gears, and then get the bottom cover back on to the chassis of the machine. But we did it!!
A few drops of oil were carefully administered to the oil holes up above and another hour or so of fiddling with the various tension controls were really worth our investment of time. We got it to sew and purr like a kitten with a full tummy!!
Thank you, Bev!! Never underestimate the power of two little old ladies with a screwdriver.
There was some good fabric and orphan blocks trading and flinging that went on, too. We all know that we can bring in stuff to pass on to someone who might be able to see it with fresh eyes.
When I got home, I felt inspired to work on a few more of those Split 9-Patches that were a gifted orphan project to me from my good buddy, Stacey in North Carolina.
These are like potato chips!
I'm aiming to make a couple each day.
Hope that you are well and sewing!
Linking up to Busy Hands. Link.
Linking up to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop. Link.
Linking up to Oh, Scrap! Link.
Linking up to Monday Making. Link.
Happy quilting!
10 comments:
Love your pretty wreath...I trimmed our Trumpet vine a couple yrs ago & made 2 wreaths.
Yes, Rain is good. we are in a drought too. maybe today we'll get some.
Pretty split 9 patch blocks! and they are fun to make.
I would never ever underestimate the power of two little old ladies with a screwdriver!! If I had been there we could have been three little old ladies with a screwdriver...
I'll bet you'll have no trouble finding a manual online. I even easily found one for my 1971 Singer. It's amazing what's out there!
Love those split 9 patches!
Pretty Fall photos. Glad you finally got some rain!
What a difficult situation for your friend, Ilse!
Having a well can be a tricky thing sometimes.
Way to go, Bev, getting that machine purring.
I recall when my daughter was living in the lakes region that they would visit the "free room". I think she referred to it as the dump store. : )
i was right...your wreath IS gorgeous! and lovely blocks too...i do believe you cannot kill an old singer sewing machine...most of what they need is a little TLC...
I love your split nine-patch blocks!
Cute blocks. I like that you saved a sewing machine from the landfill.
Hurray for getting that machine purring! As always, thanks for linking up all your beautiful projects with Oh Scrap! I will try and send some rain your way. We have big puddles of it here in the PNW!
Love your wreath! Sorry to hear about your water shortage. Hope the recent rain fills up the wells.
So sorry to hear about your drought and empty wells. Guess some prayers for rain are in order and I will do so. The blocks are so scrappy and cute. Always fun to do something with orphan blocks. If all the old ladies like us got out our screwdrivers we could shape up the world in no time. What a nice group you have!
Your blocks are looking mighty fine Vic! I'm glad you're enjoying them. Happy Quilting.
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