I have a few quilting needles ("betweens") in the largest size available. They are comically small, around an inch in length and very fine in diameter, but also very sturdy. They make taking tiny stitches possible and they move easily through the fabric which translates to less wear and tear on the joints in the hands and wrists-- something to consider when contemplating repetitive stress injuries. They take practice to manipulate though. The resulting stitches have a wrinkly, homey quality that I like very much. (I think sewing machines are designed to reduce that wrinkly effect in part because people don't want things like clothes to look so handmade.) Anyway, I've given my hands a break yesterday and today and I'll go back to it tomorrow (after I get home from having an eye exam in the morning).
So that (and making crumb blocks with some scraps) is what I've been up to, sewing-wise. As for the rest of it:
Yes, it's already mid-week but this past Sunday, my mom and aunt came out for lunch. We ordered subs (for me, my mom, and aunt) and a pizza for Dave. My mom brought a no-bake cheesecake with macerated berries on the side. The cheesecake didn't set up, so we ate it with spoons. It was nice to have company and to sit and chat for awhile. I've been way too isolated since we moved out here.
I also heard from Kelly last week. She and Kevin had been out of town for more medical stuff but they were back. Dave made bread and we dropped some off for them yesterday (though I didn't get out of the car because I was still in my pajamas and hadn't bothered to put a bra on). In return, they gave Dave a bread recipe book that was written by a friend of theirs from way back. After that, Dave got even more time to play bread fairy because we then dropped off some pita he made for my mother.
On the way home just after dusk, we could hear the cicadas in the trees along the big irrigation ditch. I love the sound of cicadas. They remind me of long summer afternoons at my grandmother's, when cicadas filled the big trees that ran along the irrigation ditches in our neighborhood. I was fascinated by the sound and by their shed exoskeletons that I would find clinging to the bark or on the ground beneath the big cottonwoods.
And oh yeah! We've actually had almost an inch of rain in the last three days! So that's the really exciting news. Along with the rain, it's been cooler during the day. There is the edge of fall creeping in. I like fall but winter is always too much for me. It gets dark too early and the bare-branched trees depress me.
That's fun to look forward to, no?
