What Princesses Wear

 Yesterday after church I spotted these 3 Princesses!  From the left is Destiny (Wayne's niece and chief greeter and hugger in our church), Isabella and Victoria.  All three wear beautiful smiles and sparkly eyes.

This is what caught my eye...talk about fashion models!  Princess Victoria made sure I knew that her sister was wearing her shoes.  Me, I'm into old-lady shoes...comfort first!  But these shoes do make me wish....

                                                                   Jolyn

Rejoice!!

   Remember last week and we could see the ground?  Well, the snow is back.  Remember when as little kids we were so happy to see it snow? Then we grew up and it's not so exciting....maybe if we would go out and play in it....

   This is the kind of playing that Wayne gets to do each snowfall.  Usually he uses the tractor in the background, but it was sick so he had to resort to using the uni-loader.  Makes the work a lot colder and takes longer.

  Ran down to Tracy in Iowa yesterday and as I got to the end of Main street I spotted this sign.  I had to turn around and take a picture.  Traffic wasn't too heavy so it wasn't a big problem to stop in the middle of the street to capture this.
(double click to see it larger)


  "This is the day the Lord has made;  let us rejoice and be glad in it."  Psalm 118:24    I really like to gripe about the weather and then the Lord reminds me--He made this day and there is reason to rejoice.  
  My reasons: my family, I'm warm and well fed (very well fed), I have things to do and can do them.  I will rejoice.  It is a good day!
                                                                                                           Jolyn

Fireplace Work

With these cold snowy winter nights, I like to toast my toes by the fireplace and work on woolies.  Not only is it enjoyable, but my hands stay so smooth from the wool.  This one is called "Primitive Wool Candle Mat".  Not real thrilled with the way it turned out.  Was hard to stitch through 4 layers.

Tracy designed these and several more.  She'll be coming out with patterns. (right Tracy?)

The girls in my class (1959...so you don't have to guess) get together once or twice a year for a luncheon.  This year we all turn 70. (NO...I'm not that old!)  At least the rest of them turn 70.  So I wanted to make a little gift for each.  Have a couple more to finish.  These are also candle mats.

This is a test run of the pattern "19 cents".  Really enjoyed working on it, but we're taking a road trip so I'm saving the rest for then.  There will be 19 of these in one piece. 

"Pozzy Pocket" is supposed to be about 15" tall, but I shrunk the pattern and this is a 5" x 15" frame.   It's very difficult to photograph  with the glass frame.  The plus side of working on these is that I don't eat...much.

 Jolyn

Fine Dining

   As grandparents, we hope we have made some lasting memories with our grandkids...sleigh and buggy rides, grandpa playing "Tickle Monster" (which only ended when some one got hurt...usually the smallest), making quilts, farm "X" games, football in the snow, etc.  But how many kids can boast of eating dinner in the hog barn?  Bryce (Northwestern) and Tyler (Augsburg) came down to power wash this barn.  Not wanting to enter the house (something about how they smelled) Wayne brought their meal out to them.

   I do hope the top of the table was clean.  I was disappointed that Grandpa didn't take a flower or table cloth out there...but...
  If you double click you can see the cobwebs adoring the table...but then maybe you don't want to get that up close and personal.

   Here they're suiting up again to wash the remaining pens.  They did eat in a clean pen. 

   Here they are...ready  for more fun.  Actually it's called $$$.

   While they were having fun doing this, I went with Shawn and Suzanne and Brandon to Austin for a Basketball Tournament.  Brandon's team took first place.  You can see by the score that they played quite well.

  
Back Row-Alan, Eythan, Chandler, Bailey
Front Row-Brandon, Tyler, Collin
What you don't see in this picture with the trophies is the "hardware".  Most have braces...they're at that age.  I wasn't the only one who felt "butt fatigue" as I heard a number of  parents complaining too about 6 hours of bleacher sitting.  
  Memories...
                                   Jolyn

Some Smells are Sweeter Then Others

   What a difference a couple of days make?  Tuesday I was trouncing through snow, then I walked on snow melted and frozen into ice and today I walked on bare ground!  Can spring be far behind? Yes it can...they're predicting yucky weather this weekend from snow, rain to freezing rain. 

   Even the fields are showing a lot of black!  To the east of these buildings is now "Olson Lake". 

    This quaint country school house sits just about 50 feet south of our house.  Lots of history there!  Started as a country school house, moved to Frost to become a town school house, moved back to this farm and turned into a farm shop, turned into a retail quilt shop called the Gingham Patch, turned into a woodworking shop, and from 2001 until now is a machine quilting shop.

  Inside you can see my faithful machine waiting for me...most of the time it's waiting for me.  For the last 3 years the building has been plagued by a sour sewer smell...but no bathroom in here.  We have had all kinds of guys out to look at it...do different things...and still this smell.  At times I could even smell it outside the shop.  We changed the burner in the stove.  Where the pipes joined was checked and found ok.  Finally last week they tested the regulator outside the building and found the culprit.  It was leaking gas that was seeping under the schoolhouse and then coming up into the building.  Problem fixed!  Happy Day!!  There were days last week that the smell had been so bad that I had just shut the door and walked away.  When I did work out there, I would leave the door open to get fresh air...(or for Wayne to see if I was laying on the floor.)  Anyway--it's fixed and it is so nice to open the door and not have that awful smell.  This morning I walked out there to quilt someone's quilt, opened the door and was hit by SKUNK smell !!!  So I grabbed everyone's quilts...done and undone...and took them to the house.  Went back out and quilted the one that was on the machine...leaving the door open!  So---I've had suggestions of throwing lutefisk under there to get rid of the skunk, but then having the problem of Norwegiens under there.  Wayne threw a bug bomb under there and I tried my trick of turning the radio on high...Christian music of course...could be a hard-rock-skunk.  But...how do you tell when they are gone as the smell lingers on?   
                                               Jolyn
I fired our dog for not being on duty and keeping our place safe from skunks.
                                                  

More Eye Candy

   Wish I knew the name of this...Sunrise Special would fit!  Wow!  It is really an eye popping quilt!

   Carolyn has a whole room devoted to wool.  Fabric, patterns and lots and lots of samples.  These two and several others aren't even in that room  Every where you look is more inspiration! (you can send a check to me now, Carolyn)

   Love the look of these blocks.  With the light colored sashing, the blocks look like they are floating on the quilt.

So many samples, so many choices, so little time!  It's a shame I have to sleep!  I could get so much more done.  Trouble is, if I don't sleep at night...I sleep in the daytime!!
                  Jolyn

Shopping at its Best!!

   Southern Minnesota inundated with fog.  USC school at Wells ran 2 hours late.  But by noon the sun had "melted" it all away.  We went to a funeral for a quilting friend and step-mom to good friends of ours.   From there my good husband ...and I don't have a bad one...took me to the..................


..........................................................................
.


.......................................quilt shop!!!

   As we quilters call it...here's some eye candy.  Calico Hutch at Hayward  always has inspiration galore on their walls.  Best part is that there is a kit for every thing you see.  There are so many patterns that just use squares and rectangles and make classy quilts.

   I should have written down names, but I think this is some kind of Bargello.

   Aw....makes me want one yard of each!  And this isn't even half of the fabric they have!

   A subtle selection of fabrics.

   Isn't that center one made just perfect...oh yah...guess I made it for them.

  Here's busy Miss Carolyn getting ready for their weekend retreat.  (she also took the time to get a new grandson last night.)  Haven't heard of their retreats?  They are great...another one coming up in April...but you have to sign up soon as they fill up fast.  
  More pictures from the shop tomorrow.
                           Jolyn

4-H Memory

   This is my old 4-H book. I love making bread and this book was my inspiration.  For the last...at least...30 years, I've made all our own bread.  Well, I do confess, once in a while I get a hankering for a loaf of store-bought...but you can be sure there's always homemade for Wayne.  He was brought up on homemade white bread, but once I started making rye bread, that became his favorite.  My Mom used to make rye bread and I can remember her making it and selling it to help raise money for building a swimming pool in my hometown.  This is my old 4-H book.

   I still love looking at the step by step pictures.

   It told you everything you needed to know about making yeast bread.  All the different ways you can shape the dough.

  Just makes me want to go knead down a batch right now...except I just made a batch of 5 loaves yesterday. 
  To set the record straight...I think I have ruined batches in about every way I could...water too hot and killed the yeast...forgot the yeast...(that blob laid for a looooong time in our grove)...forgot the salt...forgot to add the cold water...baked too long...not baked long enough.  After 30 years and more...I think I've ruined it about every way I can.  The underbaked batch was redeemed by slicing the loaves and drying them in the oven and using it for rusks.  It wasn't bad...but did last for a long time.  
  I buy my white flour in 25# and always buy more than one jar of molasses at a time and it never fails but the store clerks always comment on it...you must bake a lot...what do you make with all that molasses?  
   There is something about the kneading and shaping the loaves that is so satisfying...and no perfume can match the aroma of bread baking in the oven.  And there is just something about slicing off the heel while it's still warm and slathering it with peanut butter and honey!  I know...call you next time I'm baking some...
                                            Jolyn

No chocolate...

   We're back on our healthy eating.  It's funny (not really) how easy it is to start getting into bad eating habits.  Too bad chocolate isn't one of the main food groups!  This is what I fixed Wayne for supper last night.  He wouldn't have needed the bread and jelly, but I made bread yesterday and we always like that first slice fresh from the oven.  I didn't take a picture of mine as it wasn't as pretty...remember I don't eat anything green.  Right now the Clementine oranges are so good!  They are just fun to peel!  (I get joy out of little things!)  Their price isn't very pretty...but I have to remember I'm not buying chocolate.

  This is a picture of the t-shirts we got for our church's anniversary.  It   really was fun to see all of them at our lutefisk supper.  Half were blue and the other half was a "butter" yellow. Which reminds me...I need to pay for ours...we've been wearing them illegally! ufta
               Jolyn

Back to School

  I've mostly been working with wool this year, but I did dig out the civil war fabrics and cut little pieces and made this.  The letters are black wool that I blanket stitched around.  Had seen this at the Des Moines quilt show and loved it.  I did enlarge the pieces a little from the original pattern as I wanted it to finish a certain size to hang in my kitchen.  Years ago I made an alphabet wall hanging in pastels and was always going to make another one.  Mission accomplished!  Well, almost...I need to quilt it.
                                                     Jolyn

Heat Wave

  It's almost 40 degrees in southern Minnesota!  Time to put away the heavy winter coats and pull out those sweatshirts!  Course, our roads still look like the above.  This is taken one mile east of us almost to the blacktop.  Should be a nice muddy mess come spring!  Unfortunately, the road going west looks the same!  Think tulips!!
                                                    Jolyn

The Wrap up

For all the years that we've done the lutefisk supper, Sharon, her husband (Glen - in next picture) and brother (Mike) have organized and supervised and spent lots and lots and lots of time putting it all together.  With the death of Mike, we wondered how we would pull it off as he kept a lot of what he organized in his head.  But Glen and Sharon's daughter, Gina, agreed to co-chair and  spent a lot of time getting everything down on paper and in pictures.  

   And here's what the fuss is all about!  I bet you can just about smell it!  Again-sorry no scratch and sniff...what a money maker that would be!

   Here's my two co-partners in washing dishes... Jean and Gary.  We always wonder how many times the same serving dish goes through the dishwater!

   This year we gave out lots of prizes.  For the first person and every 150th, we gave a basket FULL of goodies!  We had so many prizes that they handed them out every 25-50 people.  Here Nancy giving one to our first guest with Nick's (our youth director) help.  And yes, that is a party hat on his head....it's our 150th anniversary!

  Ah yes--the clean up.  Everything has to be taken down, cleaned up and put away.  It helps when there are fresh people to do this.  Especially in the kitchen.  Even though we fairly well keep up with the dishes, at the last there seems to be an avalanche of them.  All those butter dishes from the tables and pitchers and coffee pots and........
  So another year wrapped up!  All the profits goes to support missions...that's the best part.  The other good part, I won't be blogging about lutefisk for another year!!
             Jolyn

And Then There was Food!!

  The theme for this year's supper was Celebrating our 150th.  This was a bulletin board the decorating gals had made into a gift.  At the east end of the hall were stacks of brightly colored gifts.  Each table had little wrapped gifts...very festive.

   Takes lots of corn.

  And lots of butter.

   And more butter.






 And even more!

   Each Sunday school room is designated...this was the water and relishes.  Other rooms were lefsa and buns, desserts,  coffee, klub room (with their own "unusual" decorations...they called it the Klub Club....Klub is pronouced clue-b)  In the kitchen were the mashed potatoes, meatballs and gravy, corn and lutefisk.  There were busboys, valets (quite frozen by the end of the day), greeters, table setters, public relations (I think that was the guy with the party hat--Nick), hostesses, treasurers, coffee makers, kitchen servers, lutefisk cookers, lutefisk cutters,  lutefisk servers (has to be different men to do each job???) meatball servers, dessert severs, electrical (last year the whole church went black just before serving time...helps to have in house specialists!) , scrub room and waste management, lounge manager--where the kids wait, relish/water women, table of dishes (Judy and her crew wrap all the silverware, count out plates, glasses, napkins and placemats so that they are ready to set each table), potato masher/cooker/server--big job--big man!, klub servers, water carrier, contact roamers, bake sale, and dishwashers.  (That's my job--but will ask for new duties next year--my back and legs complained all day.)

   And here's the people at the first setting.  I'm not sure how many we can sit, but it's 8 to a table.  And 2 youth for servers.  This year we served over 600 hungry people!

   Karissa's dishing up her mashed potatoes and even tried the lutefisk.  She said it was ok.

  But on this side, Morgan is quickly passing the lutefisk.  It does have it's own special aroma and texture!  Some explain it as jellied fish.  Now doesn't that just sound tasty.  Sorry, Janeen, no scratch and sniff!  
                     Jolyn