One penny at a time

These days it's become quite popular to save money.  I've seen it before.  At least a couple of times in my life.  This wave of wanting to save money.  The time I remember most is during the 1960s and 1970s because that was when I was young and full of enthusiasm  for the life ahead of me.

How long will the zest for saving money last this time?  How long before people stop feeling the need to save and go back to the life of spend, spend, spend?  I'm not sure.  What's important is that it's popular again.  I'm enjoying sharing the simple little things I do to save money.  Some ideas I've abandoned over the years and now want to do again.  Some ideas are new to me because our daily lives have changed as the grey tsunami gets older. 

Whether it's saving money by thrift store purchases instead of paying new prices.

Or baking our own bread instead of stopping at the store every couple of days.

Or freezing canned biscuits so we use only what we will eat instead of the whole can.  Or even better, making our own scratch biscuits to freeze.  (I do that too.)

Or making a cooking grease strainer so that grease isn't simply used once then thrown away.  It will be used, then used again, and then used again.  When it starts to pick up odors it can be cleaned with ginger root and used again or used in other ways like maybe in a lamp as lamp oil.

Or knitting and crocheting our own dish cloths then taking apart a damaged dish cloth so a new one can be made from the saved yarn.  The yarn can be used over and over and over again until the yarn itself falls apart.

Or making our own pot holders and placements.

Or using powdered milk and making our own kool-aid to go mix.

Or using lower energy cooking appliances which also has a meal hot and waiting on us at dinner time.

Or making our own sheets and pillow cases from our fabric stash and later to be repurposed into other things like kids clothes.  The outgrown clothes can be saved and remade into other useful items like more clothes or quilts.  The old quilts, when no longer useful, can be repurposed into soft toys and other things.

Or making window quilts to keep the heat in during cold weather.  These can also be repurposed when you want to change the window quilts to go with new decor.  Hmm.... how about making house slippers or appliance covers from old window quilts?

Or saving plastic grocery bags to be used as small garbage bags or repurposed into rugs and dog leashes and house shoes.  If you cut these bags into strips for using as crochet, knitting, and braiding material it's called plarn.  Plastic yarn.

Or keeping a price book so we know when a sale price really is a sale price and not just an advertising gimmick to fool us into believing it's on sale.

Or keeping a household manager binder, with all the information we need to have handy, that saves us money and time because we aren't searching for where we stashed the information.

Or crafting cardboard furniture, or quilting, or knitting sweaters and socks, or other crafts to make our lives happier and more meaningful.

Or saving the butter wrappers to be used when the recipe calls for greasing a pan. 

It all adds up.... one penny at a time.   

I'm so glad I'm once again a part of the growing crowd of people that believe in saving by changing the way we think.  I'm no longer simply the crazy lady down the street that does weird stuff.  The internet has helped me stay in touch with like minded people.  All the thrifty things I do are not new.  These thrifty ideas have been around for generations.  From cave women, to all the generations that followed, there have been thrifty people coming up with new ways to save as well as pass on knowledge of what is already proven itself as useful.  I'm happy to be a part of passing the knowledge on to the next generation. 

Thank you, to all the followers of my 3 blogs, for being a part of my life.  I hope everyone continues to follow as I remember fogotten skills and learn newer ones.  Some things I post about will be familiar to you and hopefully some will be new ideas for you to learn.  In either case, please know that I appreciate each and everyone of you..... my internet friends.

This one now finished

Well I have another quilt finished.  It will definitely need blocking. 

This is the background design. 

In case you can't see it, here's what it looks like drawn out on wax paper.  I know it looks like a lot of work for stitching that won't show very much.  That's ok.  I wanted it to have texture and a little surprise when someone looks closer. 

The flower in the center.  There was nothing I could do to the very center of the flower.  It will need to be sewn by hand to hold it down.  I'll leave that for the owner to do.

The leafy looking part. 

The border designs.

Here they are drawn out on wax paper so you can see it a little better.

Simple, yet enough to give texture without overwhelming the top design.

The food fairies have been here again.  Who is it?  I still don't know.  This was left on the porch when I wasn't looking.  Clam chowder.  I'm not sure I like clam chowder.  I've never eaten it but I'm willing to try it anyway.  I'll save it for a cold day when warm soup will be nice.  The bagels went into the freezer.  I may need to find a recipe using these instead of eating them as just bagels. 

I have the next quilt on the machine but I may not get a chance to work on it for a couple of days.  My daughter is now sick.  I may be babying her through it and seeing after Ladybug.  I have chicken on the stove for some home made chicken soup.

About the bread

This is the quilt currently on the machine.  I've done the stitch in the ditch around all the pieces to stabilize it.  There are some places where the fabric is way too thick to stitch around.  I haven't figured out what design to use for the border triangles yet.  I've started doing the background design even though it won't be very visible when finished.  It's more for texture. 

I had to stop about midway through the day to go get my commodities foods.  These really do help with my food budget except sometimes it's more than I can eat in a month.  I give the excess to someone I know can use it too but doesn't qualify to get commodities.

Of course, when my brother takes me to get the commodities we stop by the thrift store only a couple of blocks away.  I found a couple of things I could use.  I'd thought about dehydrating some eggs which requires a non-stick skillet to prepare them.  I found a decent skillet I can use and it only cost a dollar because everything was 50 percent off for the day.  I found a hand mixer to have here in case the power is out and I still want to mix up something.  If the electric is off, I can still cook because I have a gas stove.  We never know when a storm may knock out our power. 

I got a spoon, a french fry cutter, and the cutest Ladybug computer mouse.  Everything together cost only 3.75 which wasn't bad at all.  About the bread I baked.  I remembered that back in the days when I baked bread regularly, I used mashed potatoes in the recipe.  The mashed potatoes is what keeps the crust soft.  Well anyway, I did an internet search for a bread recipe using potatoes.  I came across this site in a round about way.  I first found a YouTube video of someone baking bread and followed it back to the site.  It's called Fun with food storage written by a member of the LDS church.   

I spent quite awhile looking at the site.  I like her site because the lady does a lot of the things that are similar to my desired way of life.  Not the religious part but the organized, scratch cooking, frugal thinking part.  Her site has sort of updated versions of what many of us cooked back in the 1960s and 1970s.  What's old is new again.  It's refreshing to see young people doing the things I've long ago forgotten how to do and want to learn to do again. 

Monday already?

 On Wednesday afternoon I was starting to feel kind of yucky.  Thursday and Friday I spent in bed with a sort of cold or allergy like symptoms.  Headache, muscle aches, sneezing, watery itchy eyes, and just feeling really tired. 

Saturday was the big yard sale at my daughter's house.  That was a big flop.  Lots of yard sales, lots of people out shopping, no one was really buying anything.  Most just looked and went to the next house where they looked and moved on again.  I made a whopping 75 cents and my daughter got about twenty dollars.  You know the economy is bad when even yard sales don't do much in sales.  Especially kids clothes. 

Yesterday I felt well enough to bake a couple of loaves of bread.  No bread machine this time.  Good old fashioned kneading by hand.... well almost.  The mixing was done with my Kitchen aide and the dough hook.  Yea!  I love that machine.  I finished the kneading after the mixing was done.  These loaves are truly a whole lot different than bread made in a bread machine.  These turned out as light and fluffy as store bought.  Bread baked in a machine has a hard crust but these don't.  I think I'll be developing some arm muscles before long.  I just know I'm gonna be making more bread this way.

Of course I had to eat some for supper.  Then the rest got sliced and put away.  One loaf for the freezer.  It's hard to tell from the photo but these loaves are smaller than a normal loaf.  That's because there's only me so a large loaf is not necessary.  I cut a one loaf recipe in half after kneading so it would make two smaller loaves. 

Then I made two meat loaves.  One for dinner, one for the freezer.  I've rested and feel much better.  Today I hope to answer some emails, put away the leftover yard sale stuff, then get back onto the quilting machine for the rest of the day. 

Check the bill

It's always a good idea to check every bill you receive.  With the economy the way it is these days there are often new charges or errors costing you a big chunk of your hard earned money.  This can also be a dishonest way of getting you to pay for stuff you don't want or didn't order. 

You see this sign?  What does it say to you?  Clearly it says I'm not interested in hearing what a salesperson has to say.  I put a no solicitation sign on my door several years ago.  I periodically put a new one on the door because it fades in the sun. 

How this got started is because the cable company, the phone company, and the satellite company were knocking on my door every day, sometimes twice a day, trying to get me to sign up for new services or combined cable, internet, and phone services.  There were also church people, magazine people, and perfume people knocking on the door at least once a week.  Then the people asking for money donations of one type or another started too.  I got very tired of telling people NO, I'M NOT INTERESTED!   The sign stopped all the people knocking on my door.

On rare occasions when some sales person does knock on my door, I point to the sign and say.... I prefer to sue, can I get your name and company for my lawyer?  This usually does the trick because I'm very serious and WILL contact a lawyer if it happens again. 

For the last three or four years I've watched the Insight cable company salesmen walk by my house, spot that I don't have combined or upgrades services, start toward my door, see the sign, and get a look on their face that makes me smile.  The look is.... Darn, I thought I had one.  They turn around and walk away. 

Well, a few days ago a young man knocked on my door.  I do the routine of pointing to the sign and asking for his information.  He tells me that the sign doesn't apply to him because he isn't selling anything.  Huh?  You're not selling, then what do you want?  He tells me that he just is there to inform me that I may be loosing my cable services in a few days because Insight is going all digital.  What?  I thought back when the stations all went digital we were ok if we had cable?  He says but now Insight is going digital too.  That's why some of the channels are disappearing one by one. 

I tell the young man if that happens then I'll just have the cable turned off.  I don't watch it very often.  I can barely afford to pay for the services I do have.  He tells me there's no charge for this service, it only requires a box which is free.  Ok, I can deal with free.  I ask.... Free forever?  Yes, free forever.  During our conversation, I repeat the same question several times.  You're sure it's free forever?  Yes, it's free so you can keep getting the cable services after it goes digital.  I tell him I don't like the large boxes.  It's hugh and won't fit on my small tv.  I have enough junk in my house already, I don't need more to clutter up the house.  He tells me it's a small box and puts his hands up to indicate how small the box is.  Maybe 6 inches or so.

Ok, I agree to take the box.  He sets it up so the installation guy can come hook it up within an hour and leaves.  The installation guy gets here about half an hour later with a cable box that's hugh compared to my tv.  No where near the size I was told.  Here's what it looks like.  The box on top.  Does that look small to you?  Short maybe but not small.

Needless to say, I'm upset I was lied to.  I should have known something was wrong right then.  I tell the installation guy why I'm upset.  He's very nice and tries to explain why it's a larger box.  The smaller boxes are for secondary tvs.  The big box is first, the smaller boxes are for the other tvs in the house.  I only have one tv right now because Ladybug has the other one at her house.  I tell him I don't want a big box.  He decides to go get the salesman to explain what I misunderstood about the boxes.

Within 10 minutes I have both guys at my house telling me why it has to be the larger one.  The salesman tries to appear apologetic and that I simply misunderstood him.  He tells me.... just to show me how sorry he is about the misunderstanding, he will give me showtime movie channel FREE for one year.  I don't watch movies and tell him that.  He says.... then it won't hurt anything to have it FREE for one year.  I can take my time to decide to keep it or not.  I repeat.... I don't watch movies, that's why I haven't signed up for the movie channels already.  I can't afford to pay for what I won't use.  He says.... It's FREE for one year so give it a try. 

The box is hooked up, the guys leave.  Right away the new box starts hiccuping.  By that I mean, every few minutes the tv blinks off for three or four seconds then comes back on.  I really believe it's because there are 6 items plugged into one two plug outlet or the box is defective.  I did mention something about having that many plugs in one outlet to the installation guy and he says it will be fine.

Fast forward a few days to yesterday.  I'm already upset about the stolen bank card and identity theft leaving me with a zero bank balance.  I'm coming down with a cold and feel miserable.  I open the cable bill to see how many days I have before it has to be paid.  WHAT THE HECK?!?  My cable bill is DOUBLE what is was before!  I'm charged for digital services, I'm charged for a movie channel, I'm charged for the box, and I'm charged for the installation.  Grouchy as I am when coming down with a cold.... it's not a good thing to be on my bad side.

I call the cable company to explain how upset I am and why.  I hate a lier as much as a thief.  To me they are one and the same.  After being on hold for over half an hour, I explain the the lady on the phone what happened with the salesman and the installation guy.  I'm NOT paying for services I DID NOT order.  She transfers me to her supervisor so I can repeat everything again.  Do they not know how upsetting it is for a senior person to have to repeat themselves?  It's hard enough trying NOT to repeat myself all the time already so repeating deliberately is upsetting. 

Well, the supervisor changed the bill to be what it was before.  She removed  all the extra charges.  The box will be FREE for one year.  Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that.  After a year the box will cost two dollars a month.  She tells me they will talk to the salesman and the installer.  Both will get more training so this doesn't happen again.  Yeah, like I'm gonna believe that too. 

Better day

I'll start with the next finished quilt.  For the same customer and with the same type quilting. 

A close up of the red square showing the quilting.

A view from the back.

It's nice to read the comments yesterday from those who have experienced the same things.  I felt very violated yesterday.  Reading the comments helped me feel much better because I knew I wasn't alone.  I've made all the phone calls.  Most places told me to call the bank, which I already did.  My brother is going to help with a loan for what I can't earn in the next 12 weeks.  I'll repay him when my money is returned to me.

I have thought about using an insurance company like Lifelock or Credit shield but I resent paying someone to protect what should be the responsibility of the banking industry.  This is my personal opinion..... paying for insurance is like placing a monthly bet that something will happen.  If it does happen, I win.  If it doesn't happen, the insurance company wins.  Well, even when something does happen, it's still up to the insurance company to tell me if I won and whether I will get paid or not.  What kind of bookie is that?  Ok, I'll get off the soap box about how foolish some types insurances are.  I could rant on and on about that but I won't.  Let's just say I only have insurance when the law requires me to have it.  My meager income doesn't allow for placing loosing bets every month.

I believe that credit card stealing and identity theft is only going to get worse over time.  A bad economy that's getting worse each day will only make people more desperate.  I don't care what the financial experts say.... the economy is getting worse.  I see the signs all around me.  Homeless shelters getting so full they need to purchase a five story hotel to house everyone.  Unemployment lines getting so long they wrap completely around the block.  Soup kitchens running out of food before everyone gets fed.  I trust what I see, not what I'm told.

Nightmare

A few days ago, for the first time in probably 40 years, my bank account went to zero balance.  I call the phone number every week to verify what has cleared the bank.  It tells me the purchase amounts and dates.  Strange.... I know I have been depositing money to cover my purchases but not spending any.  So where was the money?  Well, now I know.  I got my bank statement which had some strange purchases.  I don't know what the stuff is and sent to places I've never heard of.  I evidently visited overseas and made purchases while I was there and had the stuff sent to my friends houses. 

 Hmm.... I must really be getting senile because I don't remember traveling to Bo velrus or Gazetu Vezda or Minsk by.  How did I get to those places?  I certainly didn't fly there.  Why would I buy contact lenses when I don't wear them or use any of the other weird things a little old lady quilter never heard of?   Cyber space really is something isn't it?  We can travel to all kinds of places without even knowing it.

So it seems I've become a victim of online credit card fraud.  What's really strange is that I only make online purchases through either Paypal or Amazon with my Paypal account.  All other credit card purchases are either by phone or in person.  I order batting by phone.  I buy groceries and carry out food in person.    Either someone has found a way to get into paypal or someone local is a part of the credit card fraud ring.  The thieves had the right card number but the wrong expiration date and wrong 3 digit number.  But it was accepted for online purchases anyway.

It's going to be a very big headache for me.  I've called the bank fraud line.  They've stopped all transactions on that card and are sending me a new one.  They are sending paperwork for me to fill out.  I was told it's going to be a very long process before I can get my money back.  Every purchase has to be verified as either fraud or legitimate before any action can be taken to give me the money back. 

O crap!!  The thieves got the Christmas money for the grand kids.  Unless I can get the paperwork mess straightened out in time.  Ok Anita, slow down and think this thing through.  Some of my customers haven't picked up their quilts yet.  There's also a couple of months before Christmas left so maybe I can get more quilting work finished.    Gotta have faith.  I CAN do this! 

When all else fails.... ask my brother for a loan.  I've given him several Christmas loans over the years.  It will be his turn this year.  Whew.... that wasn't so bad after slowing down to really think about it a bit.  Now all I can do is wait.  Wait for paperwork and wait for this whole mess to get straightened out. 

This one quilted

I got this quilt finished yesterday.  He wanted horizontal and vertical lines but not straight lines.  He wanted wonky lines like the ones in the quilt top design. 

Here's a close up from the front.

Here's how it looks on the back.

You might think doing less than perfect lines would be easy.  It's not easy because I've spent years practicing to make very straight freehand lines.  It's kind of like learning to play a musical instrument until your fairly good at it then trying to play like a beginner again.

Kathi, thanks for the gentle cyber push.  I'm hoping to be working on finishing the window quilts in the next couple of weeks.  I still need to put the pulley strings, rings, and wood bars on them before they can be hung on the windows.   

LW, the next time you plan to paint (any room), pick out your curtains first then choose your paint.  It's much easier to match a paint color to fabric than the other way around.  Paint color match mixing is offered in a lot of places..... but do you see fabric color match mixing before we buy fabric offered anywhere?  (giggle)  

Making sheets

Making sheets is not difficult.  All it is, is simply fabric yardage sewn together sort of like making a backing for a quilt.  Then the edges are hemmed.  I'm writing a description of how I plan to do mine for those who don't want to wait until I have the time to make mine and take photos.  It may be several days before I get the chance to finish my sheets. 



Fabric pieces cut to make bed sheets and window quilts.

Here's how I figured the size for my sheets.

I have a double size bed.  The mattress measured 54W X 74L on top.  The mattress is 10 inches tall.  I wanted a tuck under of at least 7 inches.  So let's see...... 54 plus 20 (two sides) plus 14 (two sides) comes up to 88 inches for the width.   Quilting fabric I have is 44 inches wide.  This means that two widths of fabric will be plenty for the width of my sheets.  It will be a little shy of 88" wide when finished but I can live with that.  If the fabric had been narrower than 44, I could have used a third width and cut to size. 

Now for the length.  My mattress is 74" long, plus 20" for the height of the mattress (head and foot), plus tucking in of 7" (head and foot) so this figures up to 108" for the length.  That's 3 yards.  Figuring that I need two fabric widths for the side to side measurement, I need 6 yards of fabric for one flat sheet.

Sew the two widths together down the middle.  Sew a simple hem around the outside edge and it's a sheet.  Because the sheet is long enough and wide enough to tuck under the mattress, it's also plenty large enough to be used as a top sheet.  Oh?  You want a pretty border along the top edge of your top sheet so it will match your pillow cases? 

Ok, I can simply cut the length a little less than 3 yards then cut a piece of a different fabric to sew on the end.  Just sew it on with the back side of the border fabric showing on the front side of the sheet.  This is so that when you turn the sheet down, the border faces up like the sheet does.   If you prefer to have a double sided top border, cut it wide enough to fold in half and hem along the sewn edge.  I hope that's clear.  It will make more sense if you visualize it in your mind before sewing.

Hmm... in making one sheet set and pillow cases, I can use up about 14 yards of fabric in about an hour.  If I make two sets that's 28 yards, etc.  Think about it, if you had 3 double beds being used everyday and you make 2 sets of sheets and pillow cases for each bed....   You could be using up 84 yards of fabric in a short time.  You will use even more if you have larger beds in your home.  Now that's a lot of quick stash busting don't ya think?

Storing fabric stash as sheet sets is a whole lot different than trying to store it in a quilting room.  The fabric can still be used for making quilts by simply cutting up the sheet as you would any other fabric.  OR, use the sheets as quilt backing.  It will be washed several times making it very soft in a quilt. 

I'll get my sheet sets made as soon as I can and take some photos. 

Window quilts quilted

I finished quilting 12 window quilts.  This is a photo of 9 of them before the sun went down and I lost the natural light.  I seem to take better photos when using natural light.

Now I need to finish the edges and install them.  Why white fabric instead of pretty colors?  Well, as I get older I find I need more light to see.  White reflects light.  That's why I have white walls in the studio. 

I seemed to have started a craving for pizza with the pizza picture.  Hmm..... maybe it's the time of year for pizza cravings.  Changes in the weather do trigger thoughts of certain foods. 

Now that I've got the window quilts quilted, I need to get a customer quilt on the machine for today. 

Stash busting idea

Is anyone looking for ideas to help with their stash busting?  Anyone doing a stash busting report on Judy Laquidera's blog?  How about this one for great stash busting?  Make sheet sets.  It's a great way to use large amounts of fabric.  If you decide later on that you really want the fabric for a quilt you can simply cut up the sheets and make a new sheet set from something else. 

It was after type-talking the other day about how my grandmother used to make her own sheets that it occurred to me, I can do the same thing.  Well, actually, I could have done this many years ago and didn't.  I always felt my quilting stash was just for quilts.  I would buy other fabric for other stuff.  I think much differently these days.  My quilt fabric does absolutely nothing just sitting on a shelf or in a box or in a bag.  It's better to make use of it.  Then when it's done it's work for a while, the fabric can be cut up to become quilts..... just like women did in the older days. 

The white fabric in the picture is actually pieces for my window quilts that I'm finally getting around to replacing.  The cream color fabric will be my sheets and pillow cases.  The burgundy fabric and the leaf fabric will be the trim.  I plan to make some sheet sets from more colorful fabrics too.  I just happened to have more of these fabrics than anything else right now. 

I used white fabric for the window quilts so I have the option to dye them later if I want.   My sheets will be flat instead of fitted.  I could make fitted because I do have a quantity of elastic.  I prefer to make the flat because they are easier to fold and store than the fitted ones.  Flat is also easier to use for quilts later.  I'll use hospital corner folds when putting the sheets on the beds.

I plan on using my fabric stash for other things too.  Lots of other things!  You'll see it right here on this blog as I get more done. 

Busy day

I decided to give the bread a try for supper last evening thanks to the comment from RNMOM.  It looks like more stuff on the bread than it actually was.  (fat bread)  Not too bad.  Not something I would pay such a high price for though. 

For a good part of yesterday I sorted, inventoried, and boxed up most of my canned foods.  It's all going to my daughter's house.  We are sharing what we have in our grocery stock.  I have the freezer for our frozen foods, she has the storage room for everything else.  Every couple of weeks I'll choose what I need from her house and she will choose what she needs from the freezer. 

After that, I decided to take the time necessary to cut the pieces for my window quilts.  Winter is not far away.  I'm determined not to let another winter pass by without getting the window quilts finished.  It's been too long already.  Some readers may not know that I used to have quilts on all my windows.  From the first year we lived in this house, it had window quilts.  I took them down to wash and they completely fell apart.  They had dry rotted from the sun. That was 4 or 5 years ago.... maybe longer. 

Hmm.... while I was busy cutting fabric, might as well cut the pieces to make myself some bed sheets and pillow cases as well.  I plan to make more sheets later using more colorful fabrics.  It's a great way to use up some of the stash fabrics. 

I know, I know, I should be getting another customer quilt finished but this is important too.  I can't keep my creative mind working on a customer quilt when my mind is cluttered up with thoughts of things that need to get done before cold weather.  Hmm.... must get started.  It won't get done if I'm sitting type-talking when I should be working.

Left at my door

Yesterday was shopping day.  My SIL has changed her way of shopping again.  Instead of every other week, now it's once a month.  When I got home there was a box of food setting on the porch in front of my door.  I haven't a clue where it came from.

Inside were some interesting things.  Lots of bread stuff and one is this strange looking bread.  I don't know what it is.... but at around $4 a pound I can't see me not using it.  There are some recipe suggestions so I may use one of them.  Sure hope it freezes well because that's where it went.  The expiration date was the 13th.  I didn't see any signs of mold on it. 

There was also this.  I thought goodie!  Chicken gravy that doesn't need to be cooked.  It's a very small package so I thought it would be neat for a quick meal.  Then I read the directions.  It makes a half gallon that isn't gravy at all.   It's what's called white sauce for chicken.  It's still gravy to me though.  And, yes, it does need to be heated after mixing.  It just doesn't need to be boiled.  Looks like it might have come from a restaurant supply place or somewhere similar.  It would be great for a large family.  I'm only me.  It's gonna be a challenge to figure out what to do with a half gallon of white sauce all at one time.

This only adds to the mystery of who could have left it for me.  I don't know anyone that works in a restaurant or buys from a supply house either.  My grandmother always told me that when someone likes you, they feed you.  The better the food you are fed, the better you are liked.  Well some person likes me because they left me food.  Since it wasn't cooked...... what does that say about how much I'm liked by this person?  I sure wish Ma Ma was still here so I could ask her.

Dirty dishes

Thank God for dirty dishes.

My dirty dishes have a tale to tell.  While there are some folks who go hungry, I've eaten very well.  With home, health, and happiness, I shouldn't want or fuss.  For there's a stack of dirty dishes as evidence, that life's been good to me.

Cross stitched one done

I went around all the design with clear thread and used white thread to follow the background design.  This is the center area.

The center area from the back.

The corner from the front.

The corner from the back.

The side from the front.

The side from the back.

Whew!  That was a lot of stops and starts. 

On to the next one.  Hmm.... which one?  I do try to balance my time by doing a time consuming one then a quick one.  A quick one should logically be next.  It's also getting closer to cold weather so maybe I really should work on the window quilts I've talked about for several months?  Hmm..... plain fabric, panto design, easy on, easy off.  Not today though, because it's shopping day.  Time to get off the computer,  put something in the crockpot, and get myself ready to go.