I'm worth 26 cents!

As I was working on the shop hop sample the other morning, I decided that I really need to bring home new pins. The ones I have in my pincushion, well let's just say they're a ragtag assortment that have seen better days. Then I spent more than a few minutes trying to find my seam ripper, I still haven't found it. That made me look around at my sewing supplies and I discovered that I really have a ragtag assortment of everything. I need new rotary blades, in all three rotary cutters, my cutting mat is probably why I need new blades & one of my rulers is missing half it's lines.

Since I own a quilt shop, working with sub-par supplies is ridiculous and can be directly related to a few things - one I'm cheap, two I forget to bring the stuff home and three, I'm like practically every other sewer out there, I'd rather spend the money on fabric.

Mentally lecturing myself that good basic supplies is not a luxury but a necessity to the ease of the sewing process, I wondered just how much it would cost to restock the basics. $20? $50? $75? $100?

Pins $5.50 - I like the glass head pins since they're easier to grab & these have a good sized ball on the head - not too large but not too small for these no longer quite nimble fingers. Plus, these are very find & I can sew over them if I have to. Yes, I know, I know, you're not supposed to sew over pins but sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

A new rotary mat - $45. I have a large cutting surface so I like the large Olfa or Omnigid mats. They last the longest.

Seam Ripper $4.25. This is my absolute favorite seam ripper! There are cheaper ones, but none better. It has a sharp point that's not too fat and a handle that is easy to grip and won't roll off your sewing table.

New blades - $8. I admit I buy the 5 pack at $32. It drives me crazy to not have a new one on hand & have those evenly spaced little threads still attached after every cut. With three rotary cutters all doing that, you would think I'd have brought home a new pack!

Ruler - $12.99 - I like the Cut For A Cure rulers and the 7x14" is one of my favorites. The pink and green lines are a little freaky until you put the ruler onto fabric & you can actually see the lines! I also like that they read left to right & right to left.

I need a small pair of scissors too. Mine have disapeared & I think they followed the same path as the last pair - somehow they fell into the trash unnoticed and took that one way road to the dump. We have pretty floral ones for $4.99.

So how much do I have to spend to make my sewing life easier? $80.73 + tax, $106.73 if I go hole hog & get the 5 pack of blades. I sew about 8 hours a week x 52 weeks a year = 416 hours per year. (I'm sure it's more than that but we'll go with the average.) $106.72 divided by 416 = .26 cents.

I'm worth .26 cents. My New Year's Resolution is to bring all this stuff home today so I can celebrate the New Year's Day sewing & enjoy every minute of it!

Merry Christmas!

SNOW!

I pooh poohed the idea of snow all day Friday - the ocean is too warm, we're going to get a mess of rain/sleet/ice, the usual for the Jersey Shore. Wrong. This is why we were closed Sat and Sunday.








This was Saturday morning about 10am














This was Sunday morning about 6am.


The photo doesn't show it but it was still snowing.












We're shoveled out this morning - necessary parts, the back deck door isn't necessary so this is the result. It will look like this till it melts!

And we're thanking our lucky stars we bought a snowblower a few years ago!

It's definitely going to be a white Christmas.

The dreaded MALL

It's the week before Christmas & what is every sane person doing who celebrates Christmas? Christmas stuff right? Of course that's not what I'm doing. That doesn't mean I'm ready for Christmas mind you, oh no - not even close to ready! But yesterday I'm at the MALL, the MALL,a week before Christmas! You have to be crazy or desperate to go to the MALL the week before Christmas. Yes, that certifies my craziness. And I'm not at the MALL to just Christmas shop - on no, I'm at the mall looking for the dreaded mother of the bride (MOB) dress. Shoot me now please.

Did I ever mention I hate to shop? Unless it's for fabric or something quilt related, I'm the shopper that retailers hate. I go in, find what I want, pay for it & leave (they like the paying for it part!). Jim, James M, Sara & even Jeremy to some extent LOVE to shop. They like to look at everything, touch most of it & for some unknown reason, like the whole experience. I am the misfit of my family. Shopping is just not an enjoyable experience for me, I'm hot, can't find what I want, the bags are heavy, there's no room in the store aisle to move, there's too many people . . . . . I admit, I tend to whine in a MALL.

So on Wednesday when I told my loving husband we had to go to the MALL, he reached over & felt my forehead. Funny man - NOT. The rehab my Mom is in now is cooler than the one in Salem and since she's spent the last 10 winters in Florida with my brother, she doesn't have many warmer clothes. So, proving the depth of my love for my Mom - who also hates to shop mind you - off we went yesterday to look for warmer clothes for Mom AND a MOB's dress for me.

First off all - who makes these MOB dresses???? They all go from teenagerish to matronly with no stops in between. And BTW? I don't want to wear a gown that rustles when I walk or clings like SaranWrap, has a beaded jacket that weights 40 pounds, is stiff as a board or requires midevil armor for me to fit into. I will admit to frantically searching the internet for something that could be mailed & did order a jacket & camisole. Very nice but somehow I think I need a bottom of some sort to go with it.

In the midst of all that internet shopping, I decided that I was going to be comfortable at Sara's wedding & wear the sort of pants that look like a long skirt when you're standing still. That brought about quite a bit of eye rolling from the bride . . . I was willing to change my mind if I found a gown that met the comfortable requirements and didn't show more cleavage than I was used to. Sara's colors are burgundy & black, she can't dictate what I wear but she can dictate the colors, so the top I bought is burgundy and how hard could it be to find black, dressy, looks like a skirt when you're standing still pants be???? Five stores & SIX HOURS later I had them, clothes for my Mom, presents for the kids and we were out of there.

I'm not going back, I don't care what anyone says. My outfit covers me in all the right places, is the required colors and I'll accessorize with pearls.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Happy Birthday Carol Doak!

Carol Doak was here for two days of classes & celebrated her birthday with us.

During lunch Carol had show & tell from her books. Amazing!

Everyone had a great time! Thanks Carol!

Flag Pole Christmas Tree

Here's a picture of our flagpole Christmas tree. We went energy effecient last year with the new LED lights but I really miss those huge Christmas light bulbs that we used for the previous 25 years!

Holiday Traditions

As usual, the holiday season has not crept slowly upon me, it's exploded into the almost here panic stage. This year I've at least THOUGHT about gifts and been picking little things up during the year but I am NO WHERE NEAR being ready, or even near close to ready. Sigh.

This year I've been going back & forth to Massachusetts to see my Mom who has had a couple of strokes since Oct . Six hour trips in the car give me quite a bit of thinking time (in between being astounded and ticked off at the driving of others! How can you be speeding 10 miles over the limit and have cars passing you like you're standing still?????) I've spent some of the driving time thinking about all the traditions I brought to NJ with me from Gloucester.

One tradition is lights strung up our flagpole in the shape of a Christmas tree. When I was growing up, Mr Hatch, our next door neighbor did this with his 40' flagpole & you could see it all over Smith's Cove. Our 20' "tree" can only be seen from our street but the kids across the street are already wondering when it will go up. Our kids, who thought it looked like a space ship when they were small, would be disapointed to come home for Christmas & find that we hadn't done it - so Jim and I will be freezing our fingers off Thurs. stringing lights & putting real evergreen roping across the porch (which I then spoil the natural effect of by hanging lighted pepperments & candy canes from it - my traditional side warring with my love of bright shiny things).

Going back & forth to Gloucester has given me time in my old hometown. I've watched with interest the building of the lobsterpot tree. Gloucester started doing this about 10 years ago and has a competition of sorts going with Rockport Maine as to who has the biggest & the best tree made from lobsterpots. Gloucester's went up over the weekend - I KNOW Jim will balk at having our own lobsterpot tree & it will be the final piece of evidence for my kids that Mom has finally lost it, but I kindof like the idea. (My Dad was a lobsterman)

A kissing ball was in the trunk when I left Gloucester yesterday morning. Kissing balls have been around since Victorian times - usually made out of mistletoe - but the kissing balls of my childhood were made from evergreens, red velvet bows & streamers and hung outside. When I first moved to NJ, I searched locally for kissing balls & couldn't find a one, so I hauled them home at Thanksgiving. Now I can find them, but I still brought one home yesterday & hung it outside my backdoor.

And I'm pretty puritan in my decoration likes and dislikes. Yesterday, I waited while the garden center made me up a grave basket of just greens, winterberries, pinecones and a red bow. Mind you, the guy had 40 grave baskets out front - all with fake poinsettias, carnations & other unidentified flowers in them. The one I put out for my dad was classic New England, just like he was.

I love the look of houses with all white candles and Christmas trees with all white lights but in my house chaos reins with blasts of colored lights all over the tree, just like when I was growing up. My children, as much as they swore they'd do things different when they had their own houses, all do the same. Little bits of childhood traditions work their way into their lives. You should have seen Sara explaining the Dollar Dance, done at all her Minnesota cousins weddings, to the DJ who will be doing her wedding next month. Jim's family will expect it, my family & Brian's will be perplexed.

This how we get the melting pot of America - blending our regional and family traditions into something we call our own.