Golden Hour at Golden Gardens

I made a stop on my way home from Jodie's house right before sunset. 

One day I'll remember to bring my telephoto lens along so I can get more detail than my phone's camera allows.

So peaceful here.

I love living in Oregon.

Throwback Thursday: The Thinkers

From 10 years ago

Oh, dear Frog Prince. How I miss you! You made me laugh in ways others couldn't understand. I hope you're enjoying your Idaho life!

Black and White Puzzle

We spent New Year's Day on this masterpiece. It's one of the most unusual puzzles I've ever attempted. 

It's called Dracula in Dr. Seward's Library and as you can see, entirely black and white.

It's from a company and puzzle line I'd never heard of before, Pomegranate Artpiece Puzzles.

There's a bit of information about the illustrator, Edward Gorey, on the side of the box. Interesting!

Dale actually constructed most of this puzzle. I was able to rough-sort the pieces and help with the border. The pieces are nice and large. But my eyes were going crazy with this image. 

Since Dale is color blind, the graphic nature and line drawing of this illustration was right up his alley. He could easily separate pieces by value and texture.

When he was nearly done and down to the last few pieces sorted by shape, I was able to help him place pieces again.

I do so enjoy the details in this castle, though. 

Wonderfully ghoulish.

Fabric Bookmarks

It's been over three months since I completed anything for Bags of Love, the charitable organization that I help out. The entire Fall and Winter got away from me. While working to catch up on my odds and ends of crafts and projects and email and and and ... I came across these photos of fabric bookmarks I finished last August.

I'd gone through my pieces and ends of holiday fabrics and pulled out the ones that were small. I made up these bookmarks and divided them by season when I turned them in to the office.

25 Patriotic / 4th of July bookmarks. That striped ribbon was fun to work with.

8 Halloween / Fall bookmarks

14 Christmas / Winter bookmarks

12 for any time of year

I've been meaning to make more bookmarks, but rather than sewing, I have some paper/cardstock designs in mind. I sure hope I can get to them before long. I get to start new projects when I'm done playing catch-up.

Between the Raindrops

At the end of December, I found a break in the rain to take a short walk. Along the way ...

and of course, a heart

Into the Country

For our first jigsaw puzzle of the year, we took a humorous trip into the country.

This is how we spent New Year's Day.

This 500 piece puzzle has a very busy image, and was fast and fun to put together. Bonus, it's one of two puzzles in the box, so there's more fun to come.

There are a lot of humorous scenarios.

I found this puzzle at a thrift store. It's a winner.

Eugene Park Tour: Country Lane Park

Dale and I are back at it! After staying inside most of the winter, we had our first foray out between rainstorms. Our Tuesday Travels took us to a new-to-us city park.

Country Lane Park is a small neighborhood park that has the amenities of most of Eugene's neighborhood parks. There's a nice playground with soft bark underfoot that has bouncy cars for the little ones and a good-sized play structure for kids. There's even a climbing wall on this one.

On one side of the playground is this bell-shaped tube. If you talk into it here ...

your buddy can hear your voice on the other side of the playground.

There are benches for the parents to rest on while the littles are playing and swings for kids of all ages.

Behind the playground is a small basketball court and a half acre of open grassy area.

W-a-y back among the trees, across a quite muddy field, Dale and I found our first geocache of 2025. My shoes are still caked in dirt.

2024

I didn't do a monthly recap of my goals last year, so I'll do this annual breakdown instead. I actually had a very good year, finishing 24 of my main or alternate goals months early! Here we go ... 

Word of the Year:     Kindsight

Look upon past mistakes and shame with kindness toward the girl I was and what my circumstances were at the time. Reframe the difficult memories.
(This is ongoing)

Phrase of the Year:   Loving Kindness

Do intentional acts of loving kindness for myself, my kids, my grandkids, my husband, charitable organizations, and strangers.

Goals Completed:

1. Primarily use stash on hand for crafts. Supplement with new supplies as needed: Abby's afghan, Julie's Valentine wreath, Kit's cross-stitch cat, Annalee's photojournalist bag and Barbie clothes, Melody's cat purse, Abby's crochet goat, Dale's wood-burned swag, sewn bookmarks, crocheted purses
   
   
2. 24 Greeting cards
3. 24 Painted rocks using three new-to-me techniques
4. 24 Quilted Hearts
5. Flag of Stars counted cross-stitch
6. Floral Pumpkin Wreath
7. Tumbling Towers Pumpkins
8. Slinky Pumpkin
9. Many crocheted purses for Bags of Love
10. Painted 20 New Year cards
    
11. Helped care for Abby at least 4 times a month
12. Added more steps to my Daily Dance
13. Installed microscope software
14. Sorted through inherited jewelry
15. Installed blackout curtains in bedroom
16. Read 24+ books
17. Read friend's story
18. Read daughter's essays
19. Put together 24+ puzzles
20. Visited 24+ parks
21. Found 24+ geocaches
22. Drove alone to ten destinations (got used to driving again after my pandemic break)
23. Planted sunflowers, annuals in barrel, strawberries, morning glory, pumpkins
24. Bought a fountain for the bird bath and moved it to the backyard
25. Read 20+ books written by Judy Blume

Completed With Dale

1. New air conditioner

2. New water heater

3. 10,000 mile car maintenance

4. Went to Moscow for Annalee’s birthday

5. Went to Moscow for Melody’s birthday

6. Went to Moscow for Julie’s birthday and Spokane to see Dennis

7. Went on as much of the Oregon donut tour as we cared to do

8. Made it through his heart surgery

9. Garage door tune-up

That was quite a productive year! Maybe I can let up on the gas pedal a bit this year.

2025 Goals

This year I've decided to simplify my goal setting a bit. I'm going to have one main focus:

Learn 25 advanced sewing techniques.

Last year Dale and I watched several seasons of The Great British Sewing Bee. It got me excited about sewing again. So instead of having my usual massive list of goals that I push myself to achieve, I want to sharpen my sewing skills. That seems so doable and life enriching. After all, sewing was my first love.

I've picked out 19 techniques thus far that have been on my radar. That narrow hem I used on my damask tablecloth was the first to try.

-----

Now, I am still Margaret, so I still have great ambitions. The other things I want to dabble in are primarily extensions of goals I achieved over the last few years. So here are 24 other things I might do:

Crafts and Sewing

1. Develop 25 sewing skills

2. Refold fat quarters and make them look pretty (and be useful)
   
   

3. Turn white oval tablecloth into circle tablecloth
   
   

4. Make a travel pouch for my drinking straws for my purse
   
   

5. Rearrange / reorganize Studio
   
   

6. Make crafts from stash as much as possible instead of buying new supplies
   
   

7. Fix vintage yoyo quilts for Julie
   
   

8. Learn to use new sewing machine
   
   

9. Crochet Annie’s Owl purse
   
   

Once a month

10. Make cookies (perhaps for holidays and to share) 
    Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct   Nov  Dec
    
    

11. Whiten teeth
    Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct   Nov  Dec
    
    

12. Go on 12 Artist Dates
    Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct   Nov  Dec
    
    

13. 12 Love Gestures to Dale (keep it simple)
    Jan Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct   Nov  Dec

14. Crochet 12 purses for Bags of Love
    Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep  Oct   Nov  Dec
    
    

Twice a week

15. Touch base with my kids

The 25s

16. Visit 25 parks

17. Find 25 geocaches (get to 836)

18. Read / Listen to 25 books with an emphasis on audiobooks I already have.
    
    

19. Make / send 25 letters/cards
    
    
    

One Offs

20. Fill patio planters and gardens … Ground cover. Mint. Daffodils. Sunflowers. Pumpkins.
    
    

21. Sell massage table and chair and equipment
    
    

22. Work on garage organization / label shelves
    
    

23. Redecorate bathroom walls
    
    

24. Go to Enchanted Forest
    
    

25. Go to the Oregon shore

I've already started on several of these. But if they don't all get done this year, no biggie.

A Sluggish Morning

I give myself this life advice: 

"Go slow to go fast."

There are times when if I try to get things done too quickly I metaphorically (and literally) trip over my own feet, run into walls, stumble down the stairs, make mistakes, or just have to do the thing again. 

That's what's going on today. 

It's not a big deal. If I slow down a little, I can accomplish a lot more with a whole lot less frustration.

And maybe even notice some roses to smell. 

I'm retired. I get to take my time, right?

2025 Focus

At the end of each year, I do a self-inventory where I evaluate the year I've just been through and set some hopes for the year ahead. This involves writing down my goals of the year as well as some guiding words, phrases and symbols. 

Since I tend to judge myself harshly and take on blame that I haven't earned, I hope to morph that nasty habit. My overall hope is to encourage myself to soften that assessment by focusing on giving gentle care to myself and others.

Word of the Year:
Nurture

Phrase of the Year:
I am allowed - and encouraged - to be gentle to myself

Symbol of the Year:

This symbol is from a necklace I bought 30 ago when my own three kids were little. Then, it was a symbol of Dale and me growing our little family.

Now I think of it with us as grandparents, nurturing our granddaughters in this quieter phase of our lives. 

When we nurture our grandkids, we are nurtured in return.

I appreciate how the linked arms/shoulders form a heart. 

I'm fairly certain that was by design.

The Round Tablecloth

Last year, or maybe in 2023, I found this lovely tablecloth at a thrift store. It's a large oval made of a nice heavy damask fabric. I bought it to convert it into a round tablecloth that would fit our dining room table.

Then the math happened. I know I've mentioned it before, but sometimes getting the measurements correct gets away from me. It's a bit of a problem for a crafter. Last October I finally bit the bullet and cut the oval down to a circle. It worked. Whew!

I wanted to see if I could finally learn how to do a rolled hem using the specialty foot on my sewing machine. The idea is that you carefully wind the edge of the fabric into the spiral of the foot. As it comes out the other end, the fabric edge is folded over twice and is perfectly lined up with the needle to get a very narrow rolled hem.

I did some practice runs using the remnants of tablecloth fabric, but I couldn't get it to stitch consistently. I'm pretty sure it's because of the fabric's hefty weight. So I'll save learning that technique for another time. Realizing that my original idea wasn't going to work, it took me two more months to come up with my next plan.

What I wanted most was to have the tablecloth's rounded edge nice and flat, with no ripples. A fabric circle is both on grain and on the bias. Part of the edge is nice and firm (on grain) and part is stretchy (bias). That's been my ongoing problem trying to sew with fabrics cut on a bias. The hem gets all wobbly due to the extra stretch. 

So I started with a staystitch 1/4" around the edge of the tablecloth. I pressed it well on that basting line. Then I folded and pressed, folded and pressed, being very careful not to stretch the edge. I gave it a lot of steam. Then I pinned it in place keeping the pins very close to each other. I didn't want anything to move.

I set the speed of my machine to "slow" and really took my time as I sewed.

I used my clear zipper foot with the needle set to the left position so that I could sew very close to the top edge of the hem. I also got out the seam guide attachment. The guide attaches with a screw to the machine and you can adjust it left and right. It helped me keep the folded edge of the tablecloth exactly where I needed it so that the stitching remained even at the top of the hem.

Those techniques made all the difference. The hem came out beautifully! And look! I got the math right! That's the ideal amount of fall off the edge of the table.

This is going to look wonderful when I want to be fancy.

I think the damask is beautiful with my delicate china pattern and cut glass goblets and serving dishes. 

What do you think? Shall I use it on Valentine's Day for a quiet dinner with my sweetheart?

p.s. I inherited the china plates and teacups from my mom. But the matching teapot, sugar bowl, creamer and quite a number of other serving dishes were purchased for an incredibly low price at ... a thrift store! I'm still on the lookout for inexpensive matching salt and pepper shakers and the lipped plate for the butter dish.