Sorta Stitchery Related

Have you ever had a fragrance or odor that brings back to your memory, a person, place, or time? 

This week, I've been working on ridding myself of some very old areas of clutter.  I re-discovered how much I was earning and paying for rent, in 1978! Yes, nearly 40 years ago.

Well, that's not the stuff that brought about odor-memory, it was this tin, 

or rather, what was in it.  This was my paternal grandmother's embroidery / crochet tin.  Upon opening it, I was immediately in the presence of my Grandma from the fragrance within.

 There is also a second tin.

 I don't know how old this second tin is, but it's well worn and has an attractive scene on it.

It originally held a fruit cake according to some small print on the side.  The blue tin has no markings at all other than the scenery on it.

 There was a complete tangle of a fine yarn and some loose threads and wrapped floss.  I untangled it and rolled it onto the small balls of blue yarn already in the tin.

 Small amounts of fine crochet threads, that apparently,

 made these.  You can see by the 1" grid cutting mat that they aren't very big.

 There were buttons (@ 29 CENTS), a couple snaps (those were 10 cents) and some needles (@ 25 cents), a crochet hook and a flimsy aluminum tweezers.

 The floss was a mixture of shiny rayons and standard cotton.

 Why yes, that skein was only 5-cents.  I wonder how old these are?

I may have to do some Google-ing to see what I can find.

Back to the fragrance memory, it's a wonderful memory, something I've experienced when I come across the letters or cards she sent so many years ago.  Grandma passed away in July 1986, but I can still see her, hear her voice and the way she pronounced our names.  She was a wonderful, loving, Christian woman who always had a lap or hugs available when little, and loving words no matter the circumstances. The smell of coffee and pepper are other smells I associate with Grandma.

I've no idea what I will ever do with this.  I've had it for a very long time.  What would you do with it? Use it? Keep it as is? Toss it?  Leave it for my kids to discover (I put a note inside explaining what it is.)?

Stash Report Sunday - Week 16, 2015

Looking back, I haven't given a stash update since mid-February.  I know, I've only posted a few times since then too.  I'd written up a post for the DOOW side, but then decided to not post it.  And I announced my granddaughter's birth here on WOT instead of over on DOOW. BTW, her name here will be Aurora (her middle name).

A couple weeks ago, a quilt store not too terribly far away, yet far enough that it takes something special for me to get there (about a 40-minute drive), was having a give-away on Facebook.  I won the prize...20 fat quarters from the Robert Kaufman Fusions Collection 'Garden'.  There are actually 40 designs in the collection, so I received half that amount, a $65 value!  

10 : blues, red, gray, lavender

10 : greens, pinks, yellow, oranges

I also bought one yard each of two other fabrics.  One is a very pretty Jacobean pink print on black with a 'lacy-look' design by Kaufman, and the other a dotted circle neutral in taupe grays on cream by Moda. 

The fabrics have been washed, folded, logged and stashed.  Now, deciding what next to work on.   I have my Rooster project on my design wall (which reminds me, I've yet to put the flannel on the design wall), but haven't been motivated enough yet to actually work on it.  The Dresden plate still needs to be stitched to the background, and the sixth block, an appliqued rooster, still needs to be designed and pieces cut and prepped.  Then I need to decide how wide to make the sashing strips and which fabric to use.  This project is a 100% hand-stitched effort - the goal is to have one hand-stitch finish, including the quilting, in my lifetime.  I'd better get busy, it's been over six years already, and there's still lots to do!

Used This Week: 0 yards
Used Year to Date:  8 yards  
Added This Week:  7 yards
Added Year to Date: 46.69 yards  
Net Used / Added for 2015: 38.69 yards 

Linking @ Patchwork Times

So New

My daughter, Victoria, called me from the hospital at 2:54 p.m. our time saying she was walking the hall to 'get things moving faster',  she was having contractions every two to three minutes.

The next call was at 5:56 p.m. our time to say that the Baby Girl had arrived at ~5:05 (our time), so things moved pretty quickly.  So quickly that the I.V. hadn't even been fully inserted to administer pain meds when Victoria said she HAD to push, and so she did and our newest grandbaby is now in this world.

We don't know a name yet, but she was 8# 10-oz ! By contrast, their Baby Boy (now 4 years old), was only 6#-something when he was born.   Have I mentioned that Daddy is about 6'2" (maybe more) and Mommy is barely 5'2"?  

I wish I could have been there :( , dang vertigo! 

Winning

My apologies for the tremendous lag-time in posting; I just haven't been up to writing and taking pictures, or even quilting, but I have been still organizing my quilting records and trying to get my motivation back in gear.

Over a week ago, I had 'entered' a give-away on Facebook at an 'almost' local quilt shop's FQ give-away, and I only remembered to check back today, and....I WON!!  So I'll be making that drive sometime next week.  I had one some FQs from them two years ago and picked them up at the quilt show where they were at that time.  Maybe this will help...as if I really needed any more new fabric!

I still have my vertigo, but the other test I underwent showed no real issues, other than triggering an asthma-like attack...seems to happen after exercise and after inhaling laundry prewash spray.  

Hope you all are keeping busy with your quilting!