New Year's Eve

Reynald has been fussing at me about doing a new blog post and he's right.  I just haven't done much the last two months that I consider interesting, since I have been trying to get acquainted with my new knee! 

I have been doing some reading and quite a bit sewing and hand work as well as lots of knee exercises.  Here are a few photos of projects I have been working on between exercises.

Last spring I delivered two quilts to Kathy Woods for her to machine quilt.  She returned the finished products about a month ago and I am so pleased with her work.  The last step in finishing was to sew on the binding and then hand sew it down.  Hand sewing binding is one of my favorite things to do for some reason.

 You may remember that I have a goal of completing a seasonal quilt for each bedroom in our house.  This pink double Irish Chain is the spring quilt for the guest room and completes this room!  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Hand sewing the binding down.  

I'm so happy with the way Kathy quilted this.

Didn't take time for the pillow tuck because the Christmas quilt is still on this bed.

Folded and hanging on one of the two quilt racks that my dad made for us.

Guest room Christmas quilt.

This is the fall quilt for our bedroom and completes the seasonal series for this room as well.  I'm also pleased with this one. 

Hand sewing the binding down, with supervision from Charlie.

I usually have quite a bit of help with my projects.

I had to put it on the bed just to see what it looks like.  Didn't take time for the pillow tuck, as the Christmas quilt is still on the bed as well.

Hanging on the rack, ready for fall!

I have rather ambitious goals for quilt piecing before spring work starts.  I'm hot on the trail of finishing the last fall quilt and just figured out what I want to do for a summer quilt with help from Beth.  I also have two 30's reproduction quilts cut and ready to piece that I intend to use as spring quilts.  And there's always a couple hand projects thrown in for good measure, on the list of winter projects. 

Combine repair

Reynald and Alicia have been working on repairing the combines this week.  They do this every winter.  There is always a great deal of wear from harvest.  The deeper they look, the more they find to fix, which is why they take on this task now, instead of two weeks before harvest!

This combine still has the feeder house attached.  This is the piece that attaches to the header.  Every piece of grain has to run through here, so there is always a lot of wear.

This is the feeder house detached from the other combine.

Here you can see where the feeder house is supposed to be.  Taking this off allows access to several high wear points and pieces.

This is the side of the combine where the rotary mechanism lives.  The rotary drum spins and separates the grain from the chaff.  There are some significant holes that have worn through the drum.

These fins are supposed to be smooth, not jagged and wavy like these are.

Kind of a fuzzy picture but wanted to show the head mechanic at work!

And, playing the role of supervisor, is Reynald!

Tiny toy gator on the shop window sill with giant heads of wheat, looking out to the real gator!

Vintage Christmas

I'm pretty sure I posted photos of the vintage Christmas decorations last year, but it's worth doing it again.  These decorations were part of the town of Harrington decorations when I was a little girl.  The most exciting day of the season was when we we came to town and the Christmas decorations were up on main street.  The memory makes me smile, and having a piece of this heritage makes the season even more Merry and Bright.

Piano Movers

One week from today, Alicia and her pianist Kevin Garnica are giving a recital in the barn.  The Friday night performance begins at 7pm.  Saturday afternoon at 2pm they will be doing another.  The Fair Play Arena and concert hall is the venue.

Previous years we have been able to rent a piano from Steinway in Spokane and Music City, also in Spokane.   Both companies will no longer rent to us so we decided just to move our own piano in to the barn!

Reynald spent a great deal of time researching piano moving equipment and when it was all said and done, he was about $200 over what it would cost to rent.  Now we have the equipment so the next recital we will be money ahead!

With some engineering ingenuity, with help from Crayton, very little lifting was involved and our piano now sits in the top of the barn, waiting for  this wonderful concert that will take place next weekend.

A few photos of the process:

Piano flipped up and on the moving sled.

Leaving the music room in our house.

Out on the east porch, headed down the stairs.

Safely arrived on the patio!

Moving the ramp from the stairs to the horse trailer.

Lining up to the ramp.

Up the ramp and in to the horse trailer

Made it!

Next up the stairs in the barn.

The winch that will pull the piano up the stairs.

Hooked on and up we go.  

Arrived to the top of the barn without incident!

Still need to set up chairs, but we're making progress.  

Next week Alan will come and do some mechanical work on the piano and tune it.  Kevin arrives on Thursday.  Alicia and Kevin are doing an interview on Spokane Public Radio Friday morning and then the concerts Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  I'm looking forward to the coming week!

Homegrown (mostly) Thanksgiving

We had a wonderfully warm and cozy Thanksgiving today.  Our original plan for the next few days changed.  We were going to meet my cousins Margaret and Therese and their families on the Oregon coast.  But, my new knee isn't quite up for travel.  And, sadly, Margaret and Rob's dear elderly neighbor passed away somewhat unexpectedly Tuesday morning, and Therese and Dave decided that they needed to be home with Margaret and Rob and Anthony.

So, we all changed gears, ministered to those that we needed to minister to, and despite the loss of Robbie for Margaret and Rob and Anthony, we all had a reflective and grateful day.

Holidays are challenging when dearly loved members of your family have passed.  This is deeply poignant for Margaret and Rob this year, and we are missing my dad.  But, we know that those that precede us in death, are never really very far away.  And that was especially true today.

Alicia hosted Reynald and me and my mom at her house.  Reynald did the turkey, because that's kind of his thing, but Alicia did all the rest.  She set a beautiful table and laid a feast that was colorful and scrumptious and largely from her garden!

A few images of our dinner.

When mom and dad were first married, they had this pattern for their dishes.  Over the years, many pieces had gotten broken or given away.  When Alicia was a very young girl she fell in love with this pattern and set to work collecting.  They set such a pretty table today.

Scattered around her house are decorations of fall.  My dad made this buffet a few years ago, that now sits in Alicia's dining room.  

More fall decor.

Eager to fill our plates!

The buffet table.

Turkey, mashed potatoes (from Alicia's garden) and gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce.

Roasted carrots and parsnips from Alicia's garden and a delicious kale salad.  She harvested the kale yesterday.

And this is a delicata squash salad (squash from Alicia's garden) with goat cheese, pine nuts, and raisins.  I could have eaten this whole bowl!

We had to keep a close eye on Charlie, whose nose is table high and thought that everything smelled so good!

I haven't had much appetite since I got my new knee, but everything looked and smelled so good that I had to have a little bit of all the offerings.

It wasn't much of a struggle to clean my plate!

Butter Pecan pots de creme.  A new recipe that Alicia tried and definitely a keeper!

Medical leave

Two weeks ago today I had a total knee replacement done on my right knee.  I haven't done much during these weeks except physical therapy exercises and sleep!

The first week was really rough, week two has been better, but still not a piece of cake.  I'm confident that the coming week will show even more improvement in movement and decreased pain.

Thank you for your patience during my time off.  I have plans to get back to my blog with renewed vigor!

This is the day after surgery.  I look pretty groggy!  But who could have a better recovery buddy?

Unless perhaps it was this fellow!

I spend time on the stationary bike every day, with yet another recovery buddy!

Ice, ice and more ice!

My knee today, significantly less swelling and gaining more mobility.

Roni Jo came home for a few days last week to help with my recovery.  What a treat to have an in house physical therapist!  I will continue with therapy in Davenport under the direction of Erinn at Peak Fitness.  I really love the work that she is doing, even if it hurts a whole bunch!