Back in my nest.

We had a full week together including a New Year's Eve party. 

I had forgotten how uncomfortable I am in large gatherings. It's not a case of being an outsider, I just max out my tolerance for noise and ruckus early. I'm the one you see sitting on the porch in the dark. Or watching an old black & white movie in a spare bedroom. Or teaching the kids to play poker. 

We orbited each other a lot. Both of us in thrall of some sort of Christmas stuff, especially Ms. Nibbler. I kept calling her Devil.  So full of feist!

She climbed up on the bed a bit each bedtime and at daybreak. Today she spent long minutes pulling that scrunchie out of my hair. Then tucking herself in beside me to run her ratchety motor. 

She has some very puppy moments, chasing and fetching, and acting all bad like a Halloween cat when you leave the room or psssst at her for begging at (or climbing on) the dinner table. All in all, a charmer. And, Jude, mark for mark, she seems to be a carbon copy of Soul-o.

And this one, gliding the concrete hills and valleys so confidently. His teacher told him that falling and getting hurt is inevitable. I would never have imagined this was something that he'd gravitate to, but he seems to love it. Mothers like to dim the memory of the risky crap their grown kids were up to. No such pass for Nanas. 

 

And happy New Year

 

I cling to the sweet and safe while the social pot boils. 

I had another visit with Mom who reminded me, platinum white claw held high, "This too shall pass."

And I remembered the day that she added, "whatever two they are bitching about."

Merry Christmas ....

....where we did NOT die in a conflagration!

Bright, you say?

Colin put two strings of enormous outdoor Christmas lights on it. The kind they used to put up outside of bars. He loves vintage. 

Lovely. I was distracted and still coming down from a panic/anxiety attack (wtf?) over not being able to locate the box with all the heirloom ornaments in it. Is this what I have to look forward to as I slip the odd cog now and then? 

Chrift...I may take up drinking for real.

Back to the tree. Blazingly bright. Glorious!!

I thought about it a bit, then went downstairs and wrapped my hand around one of the bulbs. It was HOT. With almost no discussion (although he was highly peeved) he undressed the tree and removed the danger. 

I slept SO well. And the dreams!
 

Two of my favorites: Madame Rat by Dee Mallon is my topper. She's holding a paper and foil angel made by my Grandmother. She needs some attention before I put her away this year. 

And the crown on my Christmas, Jake and Missy brought Charlie here later in the day to stay over until Friday. We will keep each other busy.

The fun in function

Came a long way to get derailed. 

Machine pieced, front and back and edges with monkey tongues. I had a lot of them just hanging around from some long ago project. 

Sandwich making - getting the layers together evenly - took a very long evening. 

This morning I sat there looking at the Janome for ten minutes trying to remember the setup for free-motion. 

                        Tip~Life is short, ask for help~

 And there it was, under the front edge of the table, a hole that Jim drilled through the wood frame giving me access to the sliding mechanism that controls the feed dog. He sanded the edges of the hole so I wouldn't get splinters, bless him.

The "clunk" of the shift was so familiar. Did I have a free-motion foot? No. Hmm. Did it really matter? Tinker here, tinker there. Shit was not happening. 

Oh well, fall back to straight topstitching. Reset. And fail. Feed dogs would not re-engage. All indicators point to an overdue trip for service/repair.

Let's see how hand quilting feels. Two+ layers of commercial print cotton and a quarter inch of Warm&Natural cotton batting? The best I could manage was about five brutal stitches to the inch and I have tough hands. Hand quilting is out of the question.

Tomorrow, I'll saddle up the 99K and see if I can get this project off the deck. I have faith in Singer. 

 

The turn

This one is all mine.

Have you ever dropped into a curve on the highway faster than safe?

 Maybe you were taking in the view or your mindscape had your attention and, in a split second, you had to react to avert disaster. 

Or not.

Ten and two. Steady. Hold Steady. 

No braking. 

Power through it, just enough. 

You made it.

Keep rolling