January 13, 2019 – That looks familiar since I am the artist.

         I have a Habitat for Humanity resale shop about 3 or 4 miles from my home.  I dropped in to make an appointment for them to pick up my donated office furniture.

         I must say, they are great merchandizers.  There wasn’t a single parking space left a 1:15 p.m. and I had to wait in a queue until someone left so that I could pull in.  And, the line of shoppers was amazing.  They were 6 deep at the cash register the whole time I was there.

         Directly inside the front door, they have a seasonal table and it is jam packed with everything Valentine.  From stuffed animals to heart decorated coffee cups and heart shaped bowls it is really an inexpensive place to shop.

         I browsed their used books and picked up an old paperback by Clancy – The Hunt for Red October for 50 cents.  Last month, after I watched the movie for the umpteenth time I declared what a good story it is and bet the book would be better than the movie.  We shall compare as I feel the movie is one of the top 20 movies of all time.  So, when this snow storm we are anticipating is swirling the flurries, I will curl up and put my nose in an old classic.

         Then, I noticed something interesting.  The balance of the unsold donations I made to my last year’s church rummage sale must have ended up being dropped off at this entity.  In several departments I noticed things that I am sure I donated merely by their familiar scratches or subtle dents.

         Amongst the Valentine items I noticed hand cut wooden houses that I hand burned with designs.  I never got around to painting all of them.  It looks like all the painted ones sold and the non-painted ones are left.  It made me smile that they were out on a merchandising display right at the front door. 

            Someone might find their charm and buy them.  I was surprised the personnel pricing them felt they were worthy of $1.00 each.  I guess they classified it as ‘rustic art’.

         What a charming thought – my cast off art lives on. Even though they are 25+ years old someone still thinks they are worthy of at least a dollar bill each.  How about that – could it be a subtle sign of inflation?

January 12, 2019 – Out with the old . . . then we start with paint.

         Today is a melancholy day for me.  I am changing my formal living room from the closed St. John Title office back to a formal living room.

         Half the day has been spent emptying a file cabinet and moving countless reference books and bookcases along with sucking up the dust bunnies behind and under the full-size office suite of furniture.  My last piece of work will come when I have my electrician put in a new electrical conduit in a new place for the computer.

         I’ve scaled down drastically.  My 7-foot wide by 3-feet deep desk is being replace by a to 48 inch by 22 inch new surface.  I sure hope I can think and write on that small desk area. I will miss the prestige of sitting behind such a huge desk.  It has been a good friend to me for 14 or so years.  I will miss the vast workspace where I sprawled reference materials on a wraparound desk extension.

         Years ago, I worked on a surface about the size of my lap – so I know I can do it – but it will be a challenge. The problem is I am not the type of person to accept change easily – even if it is of my own volition.  This is my decision – so I had better be up to the change.

         What am I frightened?  Maybe my writing will become stilted or jarring due to a possible strained or unworkable atmosphere created by myself ‘scaling back’ to a computer in a corner compared to an entire living room as my writing office.

         But then again, maybe I will be able to answer the telephone in less than four rings because I had to walk completely around the desk and through the window alley before I could reach the telephone.  I think my friends will like that instead of ending up in voice mail most of the time.  That will be a good thing.

         I will hang my hat on that one major improvement to start with.  The next improvement will be the concept of “less is more”.  Less of a desk – less desk clutter.  Though I fear, I will have to do the “laundry-basket-dash” every few days before I teach myself to be more neat and contained and live within my space in a neat way. I should be able to learn how to do that.

         The best part I look forward to is painting the walls that haven’t seen the bristles of a paint brush since December of 2005.  Yes, that will be lovely  - a freshly painted room.  I am opting for a brighter pale yellow – as in the color of good butter.

         If that phrase sounds familiar, it comes from Myrna Loy as Mrs. Muriel Blandings in the movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.  She plays the wife of Cary Grant in a movie about the “fixer upper house”. It is a 1948 movie that has the same theme as the movie, The Money Pit (1986), starring Tom Hanks and Shelly Long.  If you haven’t seen it – worth watching – TCM has it often and probably streams it.

         Myrna Loy’s entire scene with the builder about what colors she wants in each room is sheer delight to anyone who chooses paint colors by comparison – like me.

         Half way through Myrna says:

         “Now, the dining room.  I’d like yellow.  Not just yellow; a very gay yellow.  Something bright and sunshine-y.  I tell you, Mr. PeDelford, if you’ll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can’t go wrong!”

         You know – that is a good idea- when I go to the paint store to pick out my yellow, I only need to bring a stick of good butter.

         What will the paint store employee think?  Who cares, I’ll butter my toast – ah room – any way I like.  I know it will be scrumptious when I am done.

         Just for fun, I’ve included the entire one-side discussion of paint colors with her builder for you to enjoy.

·       Muriel Blandings: I want it to be a soft green, not as blue-green as a robin's egg, but not as yellow-green as daffodil buds. Now, the only sample I could get is a little too yellow, but don't let whoever does it go to the other extreme and get it too blue. It should just be a sort of grayish-yellow-green. Now, the dining room. I'd like yellow. Not just yellow; a very gay yellow. Something bright and sunshine-y. I tell you, Mr. PeDelford, if you'll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can't go wrong! Now, this is the paper we're going to use in the hall. It's flowered, but I don't want the ceiling to match any of the colors of the flowers. There's some little dots in the background, and it's these dots I want you to match. Not the little greenish dot near the hollyhock leaf, but the little bluish dot between the rosebud and the delphinium blossom. Is that clear? Now the kitchen is to be white. Not a cold, antiseptic hospital white. A little warmer, but still, not to suggest any other color but white. Now for the powder room - in here - I want you to match this thread, and don't lose it. It's the only spool I have and I had an awful time finding it! As you can see, it's practically an apple red. Somewhere between a healthy winesap and an unripened Jonathan. Oh, excuse me...

·       Mr. Delford:  You got that Charlie?

·       Workman: Red, green, blue, yellow, white

·       Mr. Delford: Check

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_blandings_builds_his_dream_house/quotes?

January 11, 2019 – The word “woke”.

        Yesterday I received my second issue of The Washington Examiner magazine which is an alternative to the defunct magazine, The Weekly Standard.  The Washington Examiner was kind enough to pick up the balance of my Weekly Standard unused subscription.  Nice guys – I must say – I had anticipated the worst scenario – losing 80% of a yearly paid subscription.  It was a sweet surprise.  Because they have absorbed my subscription I intend to be loyal for at least a few years – as long as I like the content.

        Within a matter of minutes, I ran up on two articles that had the word “woke” used in a new way for me. I am learning new things already was my first thought.  When I got to second time it was used in a matter of 10 pages, I decided I better research this new word usage.

        The first was in the Editorial by Hugo Gurdon:

        “Who taught social-justice warriors that free speech was a problem rather than the foundation of liberal democracy, and that people without “woke” opinions should be denied the chance of being heard.”

        Letter from the Editor – Hugo Gurdon, Washington Examiner, page 4, Volume 25, Number 2

        The second was from the article entitled The Royal millennial –

        “The Duchess is at times a parody of woke Californians, reportedly banning her husband not just from alcohol but also from tea and coffee.  Her preferred substitute?  Mineral water.”

        page 10, ibid

       

Merriam-Webster - woke – adjective – chiefly US slang

“Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”

Wikipedia – woke – direct quotes taken with footnotes notes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

        “Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.^[1]  It is derived from the African American Vernacular English expression “stay woke, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.  Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.^[1][2]”

“Oxford Dictionaries records^[3] early political conscious usage in 1962 . . .”

        “The New York Times Magazine, Amanda Hess. raised concerns that the word had been culturally appropriated, writing, ‘The conundrum is built in. When white people aspire to gets points for consciousness, they walk right into the cross hairs between allyship and appropriation’ ”^[12]

            My conclusion from the above research:  I won’t be adopting it into my vocabulary, as I don’t want to be accused of racial appropriation. I am hoping it will fade from usage completely as it seems to me to be a divisive word and I don’t believe we need any more of those at this time.

        As the word “woke” with the above definition has now found its way into magazines I read, I will be paying a bit more attention to it to see if it morphs into some other meaning.

January 10, 2019 – “Would you like a cup of tea?”

         I’ve said that often in the last few weeks during the holidays when friends arrive.

         Trust me – I break most of the rules of proper tea etiquette.

         I use my china Christmas Mugs instead of a teacup and so far the tea police haven’t come to handcuff me.

         I love the individually wrapped foil pouches that are prevalent in the market place these days from Bigelow, Twining’s and Constant Comment. Not like years ago.

         I remember my husband introduced me to Constant Comment and it came in a tin with an oval cover on the top that you pried up with the edge of a spoon or knife to get to the incredibly fragrant tea bags.  Gosh, I loved those old tins and suddenly they disappeared.  They were great for hiding a handful of grocery cash in the kitchen for those “skinny” paycheck weeks. 

         I am partial to Earl Grey and Lady Earl Grey tea and opt for decaffeinated tea now.  But, I do keep several brands and flavors in the house now that most have the freshness foil pouches.  My husband picks up different flavors than I do – so we always have a wonderful assortment. Usually around the holidays, I get one of those variety packs.  It is always good to have lemon,  mint, or chamomile in the house for cold and flu situations.

         Even with guests in attendance, I have an incredible habit which has been named the “Raccoon Sniff” – See November 4, 2016 blog for more details and a good laugh.

         When I open mine or any of my guests individual tea pouch, I pull the tea bag out, place it in the Mug and then pop the pouch open and raise it to my nose and give it a deep inhale – a ‘raccoon sniff’ to relish the aroma on the way to the trash can where I pitch the empty pouch. 

         The next thing in my tea making ritual is emptying the hot water kettle and re-filling it with fresh water and put it on to boil.  I don’t want water that has been previously boiled or sitting, I am not sure why, maybe I read that somewhere.

         I drape the tea bag into the mug or cup and when I go to pour the boiling water I press the tea bag tag to the counter top with a fingertip so that the string and tag don’t flip in from the movement of the water.  I have no idea where I came up with that technique – from a movie or seeing someone doing it in years’ past.  But, it suddenly became my technique and I don’t waiver from it.

         My husband on the other hand, he flips the tag through the handle loop in such a way that you can’t seem to “untie” it easily later.

         I have one friend who likes honey in her tea and I pull out the plastic honey bear I keep for just that reason.  I like a bit of sugar, and depending on my mood, I sometimes add cream too.

         Some people dunk their tea bag up and down to quicken the process, me I usually leave it patiently to steep. Sometimes I even cover the mug to keep the liquid hot.

         And, one friend, she uses one tea bag dipped into two cups always predicating it with, “One bag can make two good cups of tea”.  It makes me smile at her frugality every time, and the tea is always strong enough, so she has a good point.  I haven’t the chutzpah to pull that off down here in the South.  I do pull that trick when I make a potful of tea.  I put in only three quality tea bags for a 6-cup pot.

         I had another friend introduce me to exquisite pyramid shaped silk teabags as a gift.  What a delight they were and occasionally I will buy some.  Aldi’s usually keeps them in stock at a reasonable price. Those are the ones I shared with guests recently.

         The week before Christmas, I was at a restaurant and ordered hot tea and the little waitress brought me a cup of hot water and three Twining’s tea bags on the saucer.  That raised my eyebrows, yet no individual pot of hot water as I usually get at that restaurant.  She must have been new and didn’t know how the restaurant usually served the hot tea.   Why give me three bags if she isn’t going to offer to get me more hot water for tea when I’ve drunk the first cup? Trust me, those two other unused teabags I slipped into my purse and came home with me. I tossed them in my teabag chest. Yes, my frugality kicked in.

         I am still unsatisfied with Celestial seasonings tea as they claim “tea bags without strings, tags or staples” – or individual foil pouches – “keeping tons of material out of landfills each year.”  I find the interior fold over seal really doesn’t keep their teas that fresh. However, the first few cups of tea are wonderful, it is the latter ones I don’t find so delightful.  I am a good girl folding down the interior fold, but my husband isn’t – so I feel the tea goes stale.  Probably just a false assumption on my part – but that is how I see it.

         But, that brings me to the tea etiquette I ran up a few weeks ago – “never pick up a tea bag by the string – always use a spoon – so Celestial is “on point” in the etiquette arena.

         Another one is “don’t dunk the tea bag up and down.” Ooops I’ve done that a few times when I am in a rush. I’ll try not to do it in front of company in the future!

         Always have a saucer or tea bag plate available to your guest for their “spent tea bag.”

         Never use a Mug and never drink tea with the bag still in the cup.  OH, gosh, another of my faux paus.  I’ve been known to leave the bag in when my husband has “magically” looped around the handle and I can’t easily undo it.

         And, my favorite “don’t do” which I swear most tea drinkers do – Don’t squeeze the bag or wrap the string around the spoon.  When I see this done, I smile to myself knowing they are trying to get every morsel of essence out of that tea bag to enjoy in the hot steamy liquid in their cup.

         I honestly partially squeeze  my spent tea bag on the inside of the upper cup with my spoon so the spent bag doesn’t drip on the way to the compost pail, but I am too lazy to spiral the string around the spoon. 

         I get a kick out of the well-practiced ‘dexterity’ of the gals doing so – as I’ve never tried it myself.  Me, I’d probably be half way through the spiral, slip and end up flicking it across the room, much like the scene out of Pretty Woman with the escargot.

                                             

Discussing Tea always brings me to a favorite childhood memory:

I had a birthday “Tea party” when I was a child.

         I was in grade school and was probably 8 years old at the time.

         My mother had a large table set in the living room with lace tablecloth, napkins, flowers and fancy teacups and saucers all around.  The guests, class mates, neighbors and one relative, were asked to bring their favorite doll for a fashion show and competition of which doll was the prettiest and each guest was asked to wear a hat and/or gloves. We had little tea sandwiches and homemade Petit Fours.  My Mom made those kinds of things all her adult life.

         I have only one dog-eared black and white photo of the birthday tea party, showing little girls in their mother’s going-to-church hats, and white gloves holding their favorite dolls.  I remember two of the young ladies were neighbors [I am still in contact with them] and one was a distant cousin I haven’t seen in years.  

         My Dad was enlisted to pick the prettiest doll.  I don’t remember which guest won and I don’t remember if there was a prize involved. But, we all lined up on the front steps and had our picture taken as a group. My Mom loved parties so I am sure there were party favors and possibly prizes.

         I do remember that my Mom borrowed fancy bone china teacups and saucers from her Mom’s teacup collection.  All different patterns and nothing was broken.

         I wore Mom’s open crown straw hat that had bronze netting over half a crown of silk flowers.  Until the day Mom died that hat was tucked into the top of her vanity mirror for safekeeping and displayed when she wasn’t wearing it to church. That hat was perfect on my Mom.

         Many times when I visited, I would try it on and admire myself in her vanity mirror, usually she’d catch me at this little ritual, and I’d return it to its rightful place.  When I cleaned out Mom’s house only days before she died, it was still hanging out on display a bit dingy from decades of dust, but still a lovely sight – Of course, I tried it on and admired it for a last time.  I left it for someone else in the family to enjoy.

         I think I’ll have a cup of tea and locate that tea party photo.  I bet Mom wrote all the names on the back of it in pencil, as she was known to do.

        

January 9, 2019 – Am I in a fog, or what?

         I’ve had a series of days where I think I am trying to do too much and not accomplishing much of anything.  Or, other things are at play and we don’t even realize it.  Or maybe, I am just not eating enough for my brain cells?

         Example One:

         We are shocked at our reaction to real sunshine after weeks and weeks of rain.  Saturday we were enjoying the sun – outside and inside.  We smiled, we had a bounce in our step.  I even opened the windows to air out the house for a few hours - thinking fresh air would make everything nicer somehow.

         The windows in the living room were recently washed inside and out in early November and it was such a pleasure to see the sun finally shining in.  Sun beams cascading in the window onto the table and the floor. 

         Oh SUN, how simply beautiful you are after such a long absence.  It seemed like it was last September that I remembered actually seeing sun glinting on anything inside my home.

         We were relaxing and then suddenly I thought – it must be coming up on 3:30 p.m. and we needed to get ready to go to church for 5 p.m.  I glanced up at the clock and was shocked – yes absolutely shocked.  I stated,

         “Well – I guess we won’t make Mass at 5 p.m.”

         “Huh,” my husband asked.

         “It’s ten minutes to five now.”

         We both looked out the window with the sun shining in and then back at the clock.  We were both thinking the clock must be wrong.  Then we both realized – we had been fooled by the bright sun and hadn’t realized how late in the day it really was.

         “I guess we’ll go in the morning.”

         What a surprise on us that we were fooled. Sunshine had been all but vacant for weeks and most afternoons it looked and felt like 5 p.m. at 1 p.m.  I guess that is called conditioning.

        

         Example Two.

         Some days I don’t think I can chew gum and walk at the same time.  One day last week I was loading the clothes washer and my cat nudged me.

         “Yes, you are hungry.”  I answered her as she swirled around my ankles like a shark.

         I measured the laundry detergent into the big cap on the bottle then poured it in the washer soap drawer and pushed it closed.  Next, I opened the jar of cat food kibbles -  we keep a couple of scoops from a big bag in a jar out in the laundry room to keep it fresh and close to her cat bowl.  

         In the middle of pouring a handful of cat food kibbles in my palm, I reached around the corner into the kitchen and answered the ringing telephone.

         It was only one of those irritating ROBO calls you can tell by the “bonk” on the other end of the line and a deadness before a voice comes on. 

         I hung up the telephone, stepped back into the laundry room, opened the washer soap drawer and poured the cat food kibbles into the drawer.

         Luckily, I paused again as the cat re-nudged me around my ankles reminding me that I needed to feed her and I was just about to shove the washer soap drawer in and noticed cat kibbles where the laundry detergent should be.

         Talk about a darn mess. Took me over 5 minutes to scoop out the kibbles. I finally had to use a long ice teaspoon from the kitchen to lift up the rubber flap and drag the balance of the soap filmed kibbles out from the deep recesses of the drawer.  [I never have been able to figure out how that soap drawer comes out.]

         Example Three:

         I have a rectangular tart pan that is perfect for making brownies or a packaged pound cake or nut bread.  It has a removable bottom that I wrap with a piece of parchment paper and then I only have to butter the sides.

         I made corn bread in it yesterday and it is nice – you can cut a 1-inch wide piece.  Brownies are wonderful cut in 1-inch by 3-inch slabs.

         When I washed it, I put it in the sink dishpan to drain – the bottom – long flat metal piece separated from the fluted edge piece.

         When I got home from errands, the husband had put the fluted edge piece on the center bar – he didn’t have a clue where it belonged.  But, didn’t know what the long flat metal bottom piece was and he put that somewhere else.

         I searched every surface of the kitchen, I opened doors and looked in many of the cabinets and then I asked about it.  He answered,

         “What do you mean?”

         I failed at describing it for him for he told me he hadn’t even seen it.  If he hadn’t seen it – why is it no longer in the dish drainer?

         “It is completely useless without the bottom!”  I looked in the trash bins. I looked in the recycling.  I looked in the oven, then the cookie sheet cabinet. I looked in the refrigerator – why I don’t know – but I did. I was simply running out of ideas.

         “Where could you have put it? There were only 4 items in the dish drainer and now one has disappeared?”

         He searched and found it about 3 minutes later on the top of the microwave – it has the same color as the top of the microwave.

         “Why there?”

         He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his TV.

         Is it just cabin fever? Gosh, I hope so – I can’t take too many more days of these miscues or lapses – they are exhausting.

        

        

January 8, 2019 – Ever thought of “detailing” your refrigerator?

        Much like when you wash your car and keep it clean – every so often you have to do a “deep clean” or a “detailing” is what the auto buffs call it.

         We’ve just finished the holidays and if your refrigerator is anything like mine, it has seen a lot of traffic and not all of it was “neat and tidy” traffic. You know what I mean – rush, rush, rush and push, push, push more in causing a mess.

         One day last week opening the bottom crisper in the refrigerator for something, I noticed something had spilled from an upper shelf and a dreadful puddle of red goo was under my crisper.  Oh, yes, someone must have nudged that bowl of leftover beets, and its red liquid spilled and ran down the back of one shelf onto another, then another and kept on going – gravity will do that you know – eventually puddling in the bottom under the lowest crisper drawer.

         Today I tackled the refrigerator – it was not just a wipe down – but a deep down cleaning – a “detailing”.

         I took all food items out of the refrigerator and checked for dates. I tossed stuff out.  Then I wiped the bottoms on all the good items and set them on towels on the kitchen table – where they would have condensation from being warmed up during this process.

         Next came out the plastic bins and all the shelves for a scrub down. I stacked them up in a row on the floor in the kitchen and went to the trouble of taking off the door shelves.  The shelves pop off when you nudge them from the bottom.  I keep these in the same exact sequence I take them off so that they go back on without much effort. I don’t usually do the door shelves this rigorously – but today “detailing” was the objective.

         Let me share a few tips here. 

         No matter how neat you are trying to wash the shelves or the plastic trays at a sink – you will get lots of water on the floor. 

         No matter how you wipe out the inside of the refrigerator – you will get crumbs, drips, or a mess on the floor in front of the refrigerator. 

         And, once you’ve washed them – you want the shelves and trays to be absolutely dry before putting everything back in.

         How I proceed:

         The cleaning fairies recommend that once or twice a year you should move the refrigerator out to clean and dust under and behind it – especially the coils on the back – on the older models.  With the refrigerator empty – it is easier to do.  Pull off that front kick plate at the bottom and give it a good brush scrub and set it aside. Check the drip pan if it has one and clean it out. It is splendid if you have help doing this – you sort of wiggle the unit back and forth to get it to come out of the slot. Once the outside has been cleaned, push it back it and start on the inside.

         I use three beach towels for this – one in front of the sink to catch the inevitable water splash that makes the floor slippery, one in front of the refrigerator to catch any drips, spills, or mess as I am cleaning the inside and the door interior shelves. And, one more I set near the kitchen sink to use as a drain pad when I have finished washing and rinsing the shelves or crisper bins to let as much water run off them before I start to dry them.

         I use whatever takes the gunk off.  But, usually it is hot water and dish soap that I liberally use on the gunk and let it run down into dry towels in the bottom to soak it up.  The door shelves seem to catch tougher dirt – icky bottoms to condiment jars, etc., that is where I use a Brillo of SOS pad judiciously.

         Once I have scrubbed with soapy water and wiped that out, I go over the entire interior with fresh cleaning towels and a homemade cleaning spray I make with orange skins that have been soaked in white vinegar, then the drained solution is diluted with water.  It makes the interior smell fresh and clean and removes any stickiness from soapy water.

         I next clean the dust and grime off the top of the refrigerator.   Then, I use those eraser sponges on the sides of all the doors along the gussets. Eraser spongers are extremely flexible and get the job done.  Next, I do the front doors and handles.

         I put all the shelves and crisper bins back where they belong and don’t forget to put the plastic grill plate on at the bottom front. 

        

         Lastly, I dry the condensation from each item as I set it back on a shelf or in a crisper.

         Then I take all my cleaning rags and beach towels and run them through the washer and dryer while I make myself a lovely cup of tea to relax and congratulate myself on a job well done.

         One more word . . . . advise the rest of the household to be “neat” using the refrigerator. Caution them to “be sure to wipe the bottoms of jars and bottles that you use before you put them back in the refrigerator”. . . the refrigerator cleanliness might just last a little bit longer.  Well, I am hopeful about that anyway.

Note:  One of many recipes for Vinegar orange peel cleaner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8JhHTUPZQ

January 7, 2019 – Hearts have it hands down

         I recently returned to sewing and as part of my process I cleaned out my kraft boxes – reducing two large ones down to one.

         In that process I found quilt squares I had cut out of old wool that had been “felted”.  I don’t have enough to do a lap quilt yet, but they are safely tucked away waiting for another coordinating color.

         Some may say, what is felted wool.  This type is by taking a 100% wool jacket or blazer purchased from a re-sale shop or thrift store.  The garment is then taken apart at the seams and the fabric is washed in hot soapy water then dried to become “felted” wool.  Wool doesn’t take to rubbing, hot water and hot drying very kindly so it shrinks up and becomes soft and thick.  You then have fabric to cut out “felted” squares of wool for quilting that are soft and thick.

        

         This project started out with four wool blazers from a thrift store – all 100% wool.  In the process, my husband noticed two of the blazers were nice, one a herringbone and another a plaid and he tried one on then the other and he walked off with two perfectly fitting blazers for his closet. 

         HMMMMMMMM – down by one half of what I had been expecting.  I can’t blame him, they were quality blazers with little wear and that is that.  So, my quilting project got put on hold a bit until I could get back to the thrift store to snag a few more wool blazers. And, I didn’t have a chance to hunt down any more – so the project was put on hold.

         Where am I going with this . . . well, one of the two blazers I felted was a women’s bright red wool.  I cut out the squares and all the little scraps around the edges I didn’t want to waste so I pulled out a heart shaped cookie cutter and marked a couple dozen hearts and cut those out as well.  I thought I would applique those red felted hearts around the edges of the finished lap quilt.

         Recently, I noticed many of the You-tube sewing tutorials are using “pattern weights”.  I can see how useful they are at laying things out and moving things around quickly instead of using pins.  My problem was I didn’t own any and I must admit I am too darn cheap to buy any – 4 for $12 or more isn’t in my frugal budget.

         Researching pattern weights to buy I noticed some were filled with beans or rice and that turned me off as I am here in the south and no matter how much air conditioning you have – beans or rice in a fabric pouch or square would eventually pick up humidity and probably mold or attract insects.   YUCK! Again, I was too cheap for washers – as I had already purchased a supply of those for the bottom hems of many of the draperies I have made in the past and they can get rather pricey very quickly.

         Then I put on my thinking cap – what is heavy and what can be poured into an opening that won’t attract insects or mold?

         My husband has a BB gun to chase the squirrels away from the bird feeder, and I’ve moved his container of BB pellets from one spot to another on occasion and I noticed how heavy it was.

         A few days ago, I groveled a bit, “Pretty please with Maple sugar on it” type grovel and asked if I could have the container of BB pellets he had and I would replace it in a few days when I was out and about shopping.

         If you’ve never experienced sewing with “felted wool” you have no idea how tactilely soft and luxurious the wool feels and how slippery the needle and thread moves through the fabric.  It is a sheer pleasure to hand sew.

         Thus, I fashioned heart shaped pattern weights in one evening during the commercials of my favorite news programs. The cost for me – about $5.99 for a container of BB pellets, the felted wool was free – and I ended up with 25 heart shaped pattern weights. I’d say that was rather frugal – don’t you think?