What Does It Do When it Has Five Leaves?

I have a patch of clover in the back yard.  Well, one of many.  These are patches of clover that Southern States did not kill when they sprayed herbicide on the cornfield next to my property and allowed the spray to drift all over my yard - where my dogs go; where my child goes; where I go.  Anyway, I discovered this patch quite by accident one morning when I bent down to pick something up.  There were some four-leaf clovers, but there were also these  . . .

A few weeks ago, I took a weekend and cleaned up and rearranged my work space.  I have it  in the guest bedroom until other space becomes available in the house.  So, here is a peek behind the curtain . . .

 
I used to sit at my sewing machine, facing the wall; now I can look out the window and enjoy the view.  That doesn't really help with the rest of the configuration though.  It actually makes it a little more unweildy.  But, I have high hopes a new space will come free soon.

In the wasted corner, I've got a spot for Buddy to lay on the floor - he usually has to be as close to me as possible mostly with his head resting on my feet.

   A wider view.

The work table; fortunately, the ironing board slides right underneath.  Just under the window I have a bookcase chock full of quilting, sewing, and needlecraft books, magazines and pamphlets.  The plan was that would actually be seen, but I ran out of space.

The decorating theme in this bedroom is Americana.  You can see some hints of it here in these pictures.  The most atrocious gaff, however, is the paint color on the walls.  We are just the world's worst at painting, so we put it off and put it off.  I know this may sound counterintuitive with Americana, but I was thinking a nice brown would set things off.  The quilt, hanging on the bottom of the ironing board is one I made and quilted.  I am quite unhappy with the quilting, so hope to one day undo it all and take it to my long-armer for a proper quilting job.  My most recent tool acquisition can be seen sitting on top of the cabinet in the window.

I have wanted an Oliso iron for something like four years.  My current iron gave up the ghost as far as steam went and I've been working on a project that really needs steam ironing.  I spent a lot of money buying the iron, got it home, pulled out the manual and read and stopped and went, oh, I'd better talk to hubby about this.  The manual said that so many amps were drawn when using the iron.  You don't usually see that kind of language in manuals for electrical things; I mean, they don't usually feel they need to inform you of a units amperage.  I was curious why they would do that and felt I should not continue until I had consulted my own personal Electrical Engineer.    The geek hates to read stuff - especially manuals.  Mostly because he's a man.  But also, I have found, engineers are a little know-it-all-ish and feel manuals are beneath them.  But, mine read the manual when I asked him and he got to the part about the amperage and he looked at me and said, "You haven't used this thing, have you?"  I knew my instinct had been right.  Basically, he told me, we would have to turn everything else off that is drawing power on the circuit that I would plug the iron into.  Since my workroom is in a guest bedroom, then that pretty much means almost everything upstairs with the exception of the washer and dryer which have their own circuit.  So, until we can run a circuit for the iron - and only the iron - to run on, I have a very expensive paper weight.  Sucks.

I finished a project today that I've been working on since January -

My DAR chapter supports a unit at the local VA hospital.  The unit is called CAT-5 and is for vets with alcohol and drug dependence.  These guys have hit rock bottom; so far down that even their families have given up on them.  I don't judge the families because I haven't walked a mile in their shoes.  But, at Christmas-time, we try to bring these folks a little cheer.  Every year we stuff stockings with sudoku books, playing cards, socks, canteen chits, etc.  Chock full.  And the staff at the hospital put the stocking out for them at Christmas.

End of last year, I volunteered to do the stockings this year.  They were made out of a lot of wool yardage that I'd felted, a lot of upholstery and home dec. fabric that I had in my stash, and some things that I picked up at yard sales and thrift shops throughout the spring and summer.  The biggest deal was getting the trims that went on them.  There are 100 stockings (I recounted this morning) and no two are exactly alike.

 

Finally, I mentioned the Quilts of Valor program.  I email-exchanged with the WV/VA regional contact and found out for sure that in order to participate now, you don't need to work through a quilt shop.  That was a big hang up last time I looked into this.  I talked to my Regent last night about the program and us -as a chapter- getting involved and she wants me to bring it to our board meeting in January.  I did go and get some material for that quilt in the Fons and Porter September/October magazine -

The fabric in the middle, the tan paisley on navy - that one is for the inner border.  The stripe on the bottom is for the outer border.  I love the way the tan paisley plays with the navy paisley that's going to be the "field" portion of the "flag".  I also love how the leaves in the red fabric read like stars.  I don't know the final destination for this quilt.  It may end up being for my own son, who is a veteran; or it could go to the chapter project.  I guess I'll have to see how much I get done and how that January board meeting goes.

A final shot - this is Leamann Mill north of Hagerstown, MD.  A gift/decor shop is run out of it now.  I just love old mills and love it when they are repurposed.