Friday, April 11, 2025

Easter means one thing. OK - two things...

Easter means one thing for me and that is, how many Cadbury Creme Eggs can I get away with. Alas, the cost has skyrocketed since the good old days of two for 50¢, or a box of 4 for 75¢. Now a box of 4 is $6.50. The nerve of some places! Well, I found the secret to cashing in big time -- Grocery Outlet, where they sell a huge egg filled with 16 of the sinful treats for next to nothing. And I scored - twice! And to those of you who do not enjoy the pleasures of the creamy eggs I say, BAH HUMBUG!

Now my fixation on sugary delights does not keep me from enjoying colorful yard displays. I don't know when it became standard to go all out with Easter decorations, but this yard certainly has it down. Enjoy.




 

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Repurposing with a purpose

Sometimes grand plans can go astray and it's actually for the better. Case in point was a raw silk quilt I started way back in the day. The design is inspired by Hokusai's Wave painting, though it in no way looks like his masterpiece. The waves are appliquéd onto the background and then I added sashiko embroidery to accent the piece. Let's not forget the French knots as well. So far so good, right? The next step was to add batting and do a sashiko quilting design to complete the piece. Well, as it does, life got in the way and the quilt top got put away for later. And later. Then the big move to our current abode with closets that had no doors. We dithered over getting sliding doors or bi-fold doors to cover the inevitable mess that closets are, and nixed both options. As we were unpacking boxes, inspiration struck. What about using a curtain? OK. Sounds good, but are there curtains out there that would fit or would I have to sew those? Then the lightening bolt. What about the quilt top? Would that work? Turns out, the answer was a resounding yes. It's as if it was custom made for the space. It fit the closet opening perfectly. Problem solved and I no longer had to think about endless hours of stitching to complete a quilt I didn't really need. Especially a raw silk quilt that dogs would mess up in a hot minute. Life can be surprisingly good sometimes.