My Corner of the World

Here it is, the place you can find me when you can't find me any place else. This is where I go to be alone, away from the TV (there is NO TV in our bedroom), away from the phone (OK, there is a phone in our bdrm, but if I am having alone time I don't answer it!), this is my space to read, pray, do a little handwork, give myself a pedicure during the cooler months (otherwise pedicures happen in the sun on the deck!!!)

Let's see, what is going on in my corner of the world (from here on out MCOTW)....

• Love my glider rocker. How did I manage without one while rocking and nursing my babies I will never know! I think they should be a requirement for every house and certainly for every new momma.
• The pink ducky raggy quilt on the back of the rocker is one I made when I first became a gma. I really wanted to give it to Maddie when she was born but just couldn't part with it so it became a "leave at gma's house" baby quilt. DH was NOT thrilled with vaccuming up after it was used each time. Fear not, Maddie did get her fair share of baby quilts to have at her own home.
• The other quilt on the rocker is my wonky 30's swap block quilt that I completed in February. It is getting a bit chilly here in Oregon so this is what I drap over my legs while in MCOTW
• The pillow reads "Love Makes the World Go Round" it was on my parents bed for years and some how I ended up with this one and my sister has the one that goes with it that has a saying about Grandkids...can't remember what it says.
• The little antique next to the rocker is a Humidor, found at an estate sale for $5. It is worth over $75. They obviously did not know what they had!!! Anyway, I love it! When you open the door you can smell tobacco. My daddy smoked a pipe for years, when I open the door to the humidor I can be transformed to a place where Apple Pie Pipe tobacco is in the air. Currently the only things in there are candles and matches.
• On front is a magazine rack, with no magazines in it. Each side has 2 shelfs for knickknacks...aka, dust collectors. The knickknacks have all been moved to who knows where...Maddie and JJ were here, things have been rearranged!
• On the top is a tart burner that Ed made for me to match our new bdrm, didn't he do a great job?! We love to go to the pottery barn and paint ceramics. I love burning candles, and do so in everyroom of our home. The tart burner is sitting on one of my Grandma Mattie's hankies. There is a Paper Crafts magazine and my Bible ready for devotions.
• On the other side of the rocker is a floor lamp...which has a long story but I will not go into that...I love that lamp, another antique that found its way to our home. The light part swivels so I can turn it just right to give me the most light when I need it and move it out of the way when I don't have the light on.
• Hanging on the lamp is: My new-new, just right for me purse...isn't it cute! The chicken head is attached to a sock...it is where I empty my "chicken feed" (aka change) each night so my purse doesn't get too heavy...it is an easy way for me to save $$ and the grandkidlets love emptying it and rolling the coins for me when it gets half full. I had given this to my momma years ago when she complained to me about all the change that had been laying around in their 5th wheel.
• Above the floor lamp is an antique urinal. Yes, a urinal! Isn't it wonderful? My FIL was a funny man and we loved to laugh about all kinds of silly things. Until I came into this mans life he did not have a young woman to joke with, shower with gifts and spend time with. He did have 2 daughters but relationships with them ceased when they graduated from HS and moved away, sad...but true... Anyway...my FIL and I would find the strangest things to laugh about and the funniest things to give each other as gifts. We almost made a career out of trying to one up each other. This urinal was a gift from him to me. He thought I would either 1) take it to a thrift shop and dispose of it ASAP or 2) use it as a planter on the OUTside of our house. I did neither!! I called his bluff and hung it in our livingroom for all to see!!! Added a spider plant (in a container) and it was the topic of many conversations over the years. Currently it is in MCOTW with a wonderful display of colorful dried flowers.
• If you look really close you can see my bedspring candle holders (that I posted about months ago) hanging infront of the window. There are 5 of them, the picture shows 4 of them. They were fun to make and are a nice soft bit of light in the room at night. I found some battery operated "candles" that I put in them (remember, my nephew the fireman!!!) and we can fall asleep with the "candles" "burning". I love how my candle holders turned out.
• When the curtains are open, Spring through Fall you will see a window box full of color...the hummingbirds feast there, butterflies stop by, bees and dragonflies abound...from now until Spring returns you will see the shed, the hedge and our neighbors house.

So, there you have it a tour of MCOTW. Just writting about it makes me realize how blessed I am.

• Color...there is color all around me
• History...Antiques
• Memories...Apple Pie Tobacco and a rolypoly FIL
• Love...my tart burner, quilts
• Laughter...new-new purse
• Creativity & Re-using...bedspring candle holders
• Peace...quiet places to hide during busy, hectic living

OK, now...just to offer you a chuckle...during our regularly scheduled Saturday chat this morning my sister asked me if I rolled my eyes when someone asked if "your sister is a quilter"....LOL oh my goodness...No...she doesn't quilt...but she does pack a mean seamripper!!!

SHE KNOWS I AM GOING TO WRITE THIS, DON'T THINK POORLY OF ME!!!!

I AM NOT SLAMMING HER, WE LAUGHED ABOUT THIS TOGETHER, SHE IS HILARIOUS, AND NO NO NO, NONE OF YOU CAN CLAIM HER AS YOUR SISTER...SHE IS MY SISTER

Nancy isn't a quilter...but she does know how to frog stitch!

She is able to quilt, but doesn't. Currently she and her daughter, Mandy, are sewing things for a nursery (Mandy is expecting her second baby in March). This is not something these two would normally attempt, but I give them kudos for what they have accomplished thus far. When Mandy's first child was born (8 years ago) my mother, Nancy and I drove to Colorado for a long wknd to sew everything to create a nursery...curtains, quilts, bumperpads, cribskirt, diaperstacker....oh gosh I can't remember what all we sewed, but we sewed from the moment we walked into the house until we packed up to head home to Oregon a few days later. Mandy knew her mom and her gma (my mother) were coming to create a nursery but had no idea I was going to be with them. Mandy called me for days before hand "Please come, they can't do this without you." It was hilarious because I had planned to go all along, she just didn't know it. It was fun! We sewed from sun up to sun down. Momma cut, I sewed. Then we would switch and I would cut and momma would sew...that is when Nancy came into the act,...she would rip...then I would re-sew. No, I would not say I was a better sewer than momma, she just always...always...had trouble with the directions with everything she sewed...she could get it in a second if she were shown how to do something but to read the directions, well, she just didn't get it. She ended up being the cutter, I the sewer and Nancy the comforter of one very very pregnant young woman.

A few years before that it was the same story...only we were making Mandy's wedding gown. I had taken a wk off from work to get this dress done. I was to make the dress, Nancy was to make the veil...we couldn't buy enough seamrippers!!! I am so glad she has an awesome sense of humor.