Thistlewood Manor

Sweater makeover

I’ve been trying to find some nice cardigans as we keep the house fairly cool and I like a little extra to keep me warm at night.  It seems I just haven’t found what I want, so I’m doing some makeovers of things I already have.

This is the first one.  I forgot to take a “before” picture, but it was a simple pullover ramie/cotton sweater.  I liked it, but because it was a little on the short side it tended to pull up, which I didn’t  like.  So, I cut it up the front and hemmed it.

 

Then I added lace around the neck and front edges.  And sewed on a hand crocheted doily and a button.  Now I think it’s pretty cute and comfy, and not too short at all!

Like my “runway model” pose?

And of course you need another puppy picture:

  3 weeks old today!

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve!

2011: The toughest year ever.

2011 will be over in a few days, and I have to say I’m glad.  It hasn’t been an easy year, especially financially.  But before I get into all that, I’m going to try to find some positive things to say.

First, and most importantly, we are all healthy.  At least, mostly healthy and being treated for the chronic illnesses that Greg and I have.  But overall most days are good days and I’m very thankful for that.

This year Rachel graduated from high school.  She worked at the Christian Daycare, then started school at North Iowa Community College.  She’s happy and fun and full of life and I’m so proud of her.

Zach had some rough times this year, but he’s now employed at Jiffy Lube in Mason City and moving into a house with some friends.  I’m really proud of him for how he’s persevered despite adversity.

Ethan is a sophomore in high school and employed at Hardees.  I’m proud of him for having goals and working towards them, although I don’t think he’ll be making a career of fast food.

Greg continues to work at Sukup’s Manufacturing, and they must like him because they keep giving him raises.  He travels a lot, and has been to New York, Nebraska, Illinois, North Dakota, and is now planning a trip to Sri Lanka.

I feel better now that I listed all that good stuff, but it’s still been a tough struggle this year.  In January we dealt with the foreclosure on Greg’s former house, due to renters not paying.  That started a “domino effect” of never quite being able to catch up on the bills despite our best efforts and cancelling all trips, vacations, house remodeling, etc.  Then the cars began to show their ages.  We replaced brake lines and starters, batteries and tires, alternators and heaters, brake pads and mufflers and on and on.  $2,500 later we still have a few things left to fix, but will hopefully have reliable transportation again.  And then…..we saw water bubbling up in the front yard and had to have it dug up and a water pipe fixed.  And this year we learned Greg has sleep apnea and so we’re buying a CPAP machine.  The kids’ needed help with school expenses.  Child support was erratic.  It seems like it’s been one thing after another.

So, I’m glad 2011 is over.   I’m looking forward to a new year   and hoping things will  be much better.

Here’s something to leave you with that will make you smile:

Puppy!  Whenever I feel down I go play with all 7 of them and then I don’t feel so bad……..

The pressure’s on….

About 2 weeks ago our water pressure dropped dramatically.  It took 5 minutes to fill the dogs’ water bowl.  I couldn’t get suds in the dishwater.  A load of laundry took hours.  It was like showering under a drip.  It was annoying and frustrating.  My husband checked out the well pump and pressure tank, they seemed to be fine.  Then I took a walk around the property and saw this:

It’s an old cement slab that used to be a barn foundation.  Water was bubbling out of this hole and making a little stream that ran down the hill.  We knew that couldn’t be good.  We called Mort’s, a local company, to come take a look.

Two men came out and looked at the hole and the water.  They said there used to be a waterer for animals there, and the pipe must be leaking.  They got out the big digger.

I wished I had little kids at home so I’d have an excuse to go watch.  I walked down there and watched anyway.  I’m a big kid.

I kept creeping closer and closer.  The men didn’t yell at me, so I figured it was ok.

They made a BIG hole.

So big they needed a ladder to get down in there.  There were tree roots running alongside the water line; the men said that meant it had been leaking for a LONG time.  We’ve never had great water pressure and our electric bill has always been high, that must be the reason.

Then they found the culprit.

This pipe had connected to the old waterer and had rusted out, allowing the water to leak out.  They cut off the old pipe and capped it.  I went in the house and turned on the water…. yay, water pressure!

They filled in the hole, loaded up their digger and were all done in an hour.  I sent them on their way with jars of peppernuts and many thanks.

Trying to get in the Christmas spirit

I can’t believe we have NO snow!  None.  Nada.  Zip.  It just doesn’t seem like Christmas in Iowa.  I haven’t felt like doing much decorating this year, but I love all the pretty front doors I see in Country Living and Country Home magazines and on Pinterest, so I tried my hand at it (with lots of help from Greg).

We picked the greenery from our woods and I made the wreath.

Now if I just had some snow…….

Dog pile!

I’ve heard the term “dog pile” for years and of course I knew what it meant, but until we had puppies I never really understood it.  Now I watch these little puppies pile on each other and climb and rearrange themselves and it makes perfect sense!

Isn’t that cute, how they wiggle around?  And they make little grunting noises too.  So sweet.

What an adorable little face!  Their eyes should open this week, I can’t wait.

And one more thing……the Blue Snail quilt is done!

Sneak peek

This is a quilt I’m working on for a customer.  I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out……hope to have the binding on it and in the mail tomorrow!

Quilting is almost done!  It’s a throw quilt, which is the biggest size I’ll do on my home machine.

The pattern is called “snail’s trail” and makes some cool secondary designs when it’s all put together.

I also needed to do a little “practice” quilting, so I finished up this little quilt:

It’s all 3” blocks.  The printed ones have quilter’s sayings on them and the others were in a grab bag I got at a quilt show.

Of course, we need a few more puppy pictures:

Nap time!

Dinner time!

That’s pretty much what they do all day.  Nap and dinner.  It’s a dog’s life.

Rachel thinks she’s a puppy too.

An early Christmas surprise.

Today was an ordinary day…..did some things around the house.  Read a book.  Sewed some quilt blocks; had  corn chowder and grilled cheese for lunch.  The dogs lay in the sunshine and relaxed, my son went to work and came home.  No signs of anything unusual at all.  About 3:30 pm my  husband, daughter and I left for Mason City where we planned  to  do some shopping and then attend my husband’s work party, a fun affair involving catered food, music, amazing desserts, laughter and friends.

Just as we dropped my daughter off at her friend’s house, we got THE CALL from my youngest son……..”mom” he said.  “I have something to tell you.”  My mind raced with all the things that could go wrong with a 16 year old boy at home alone.  “Lucy had a puppy!” he said.  I was shocked.  We didn’t even know that Lucy, our Doberman/lab dog was pregnant.   And we had laughed a  lot at our terrier/Chihuahua's efforts to breed her, being half her size.  Evidently he had been successful.  “Mom, she’s having another one!” my son announced.  “Ooooh, that’s gross!” he commented.   We decided to go on to the party as things seemed to be progressing just fine without our help.  We returned home a few hours later to discover that Lucy was the proud mother of 7 pups.  There was one more, but it didn’t make it.

Here are Lucy and Marvin, the proud parents.

Lucy and her 7 babies.  I’ll have more pictures soon as they get bigger.

The tradition of Peppernuts

Every year at Christmas time my mother started baking her famous “pfefferneuse” or peppernuts.  She would make several kinds:  plain, seasoned with cinnamon and cloves and pepper;  anise with ground star anise, and molasses.  Soon there would be jars and jars full of these tiny delights.  I’ve just started baking my own for this year:

This is a batch of “plain” peppernuts.  They are about 1/2 inch across.  I cut them with a small cookie cutter, but I’m told my grandmother used a thimble!

Holey Dough, Batman!

Greg actually enjoys the tedious business of cutting out cookies.

Piles of baked peppernuts.  Bet you can’t eat just one!  Now they’ll be packed into jars to enjoy and give away to friends.

I’ve got the blues

The quilting blues……

Here’s a sneak peek at a snails trail quilt I’m working on, all in blues.  It will have 20 12” blocks when finished.