It Was A "Blast"-- my unexpected "vacation" and how you can avoid one!

The view from my 7th floor window

Terrible and sudden pain only comparable to childbirth (but without the reward) brought about an unusual start to my June. I had my first experience going "under" and my first ever operations as the doctor laser-blasted a large kidney stone that was going to ruin my life! Everything happened so quickly, but there were many answers to prayer and I was very blessed to be carried through it all by the gentle hand of God!

Across the river, orchards and bald eagles were to be seen. "God's Country"

Only He could have brought my pain level down to nearly nothing the day before the operation... and took me through the whole ordeal in just the right ways...so many answers to prayer.

I enjoyed watching all the birds fly to these trees.... which are taller than the 7th floor that I was on.

Despite the awful circumstances, my stay in the hospital was in a way like a vacation. A private room with a fabulous view, an adjustable bed with all the features for comfort, food brought to me on a tray, juice anytime I wanted it (none of this "it's all gone.. so and so drank the last of it"), crushed ice when I wanted it, warm blankets (warmer than the dryer can get them) in the middle of the night when I requested them, not worrying about all the laundry piling up at home (after all, there was nothing I could do about it!), time to hand-write some letters, and a hand-sewing project. Ah the luxury of hand sewing! Take all the time you want, it's just you, the long afternoon, and a needle and thread. 

While in bed,  I made this cute little hat with ear flaps for a special little fellow. I didn't have a pattern with me, so I drew a wedge-shape on a piece of paper for the crown, and used that as my pattern. The brim and ear-flaps were free-hand. I hope to get better photos later when it is washed and pressed-- the inside seams were also finished with self-made bias and seam tape. The nurses were interested in the progress of the hat!

I had such nice nurses! My experience in the past with nurses in clinics has not been good. It seemed my lot in life to get the sarcastic, impatient nurses who were having a perpetual "bad day." or who were way past due for retirement and didn't want to be there, or whose attitude was that the patients were of a lower intelligence. I was so relieved to find the hospital nurses were in NO WAY like that! All of them were sweet, kind, considerate, sympathetic, and I felt that they genuinely cared about me. Every shift brought another really pleasant nurse and CNA. 

Now here at home, my new steel water bottles are going to be my life-long companions-- 100 oz. of water a day for the rest of my life. I used to be so busy with the work of the day I would  forget to drink water.  Readers, I urge you, DRINK YOUR WATER!!!! Don't wait until you are thirsty- it's too late then! Pull out a pretty cup-- even a tea cup will do!-- and fill it every hour. Don't get too busy to take a sip. Make it your new good habit!

"It just needs new curtains!"

The title for this post is a quote from Betty, who said that about some old run down house in Australia. I happened to see the need for a curtain in a run-down old room in my house, and truly it does make a difference! 

The photo below is a portion of the laundry room. It is awaiting its "Cinderella" moment and so little has been done in the decorating department, excepting for a few shelves put up, and a couple of paintings done by a neighbor placed to brighten laundry chores. The window is sadly lacking in a lot of ways-- it unfortunately looks out on a tyvek covered wall, the sacrifice for having another room built beyond it. I'm sure that there was  a covering intended for the window, perhaps waiting for that day when the laundry room gets its overhaul. I thought it was time to make a temporary covering for it; and as we all know that anything temporary tends to stay in houses for the next ten years, I thought I should have fun and make it decorative. 

Before

After!

This is a lot more "playful" of a look than I am used to making, but since the paintings (done by a folk artist next door) are so bright, I thought the curtain should reflect that brightness. I had a lot of scraps of pretty prints that went perfectly. 

Banner Curtain Tutorial

Here's how I made the curtains:

Some of the prints were cut into 4" squares and made into prairie points. I know that isn't the most efficient way to make triangles, but prairie points are such a delightful waste of fabric! 

Fold the square in half on the diagonal, 

and in half again. Voila, a prairie point. 

For the scallops, trace half a teacup on cardboard, to make a template. Trace around the template on two layers of fabric. sew around the curved part and leave the straight edge open for turning. I simply folded some of the scraps in half, or used other scraps to back the scallops. Trim after sewing. I started out snipping around the curve to make a nice flat scallop, but after a few times of doing that, I started trimming them within 1/8 of the stitching line. Turn and press. 

Here are all the points and scallops right sides out and pressed. 

The finished size of each was close to 3" across. 

Pin them to the curtain upside down, and slightly overlapping each other. 

I used eyelet for the curtain, which gave me a sort of "grid" to lay these out on. Otherwise, I would have ironed a crease or marked my fabric with the lines needed for placement.

Sew across the bottoms of the scallops and points, with a 1/4 seam allowance. 

Carefully iron the scallops and points over, to show the right sides. 

Stitch along the top of the line of scallops and points. I used a decorative stitch for the fun of it. 

Stand back and squeal at what a cute project this is turning out to be! Ooh, wouldn't it make a cute table cloth for a playhouse or birthday party? Or a playful tea cozy? What else could I do with these?

Using bigger scraps, I sewed a casing across the top of the curtain after hemming the sides. 

Someday when the laundry room is renovated, the exposed water-pipes covered nicely, and paint slapped on everything in sight, there may be new curtains. I think, though, that this curtain is so utterly cute it will be a "keeper!"

Numbers Game

Hopscotch
Theophile ...
Buy This at Allposters.com

Today at lunch, the children made up a game out of numbers. One would say a number, and the others would have to guess the significance of it. They were choosing numbers that were the ages of the family, or the numbers of certain elements (they are out to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements). We expanded the game further by guessing a number between 0 and 6,000, and then finding all the things we could think of that used that number. It was fun!

360= number of degrees in a circle
0= Celsius freezing point, and "the divider between positive numbers and negative numbers" as one boy guessed.
40= years of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness, days of the temptation of Christ, days it rained in Noah's flood, etc. Lots of these in the Bible!
300= degrees of a "slow oven."
1,611= year of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible.
1= one Lord, one faith, one baptism
1,776 = year of the Declaration of Independence
30= Jesus was 30 years old when he started his ministry
2= two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet....

Pattern Weights

A few little fabric swatches, sewn together and filled with beans, make quick weights to hold down patterns without pins. I'm trying them out today to see how we'll they work.