My trip to see family continued with more food fun. We revisited a favorite restaurant in rural North Carolina called Hillbilly Hideaway. They serve a different selection of country favorites each evening,

My son in law once had pizza from a place near my mother's house in Indiana. It was his favorite ever. So when I stopped overnight at Mom's, my sister ordered 2 take-and-bake pies. She packaged them in

I am well, but it is coming up on the 1-year anniversary of my daughter's untimely death. I am beginning stage two of healing my traumatized mind. (Stage one was just surviving the past year.) I have been

I promise this is the last sewing machine I will buy for a while. Really. But this machine was a steal--and almost like the one I left in North Carolina with my daughter. It even came with a buttonhole

I started the year with 3 big plans: Get back to doing bridal alterations in my community. Grow my skills in sewing machine maintenance and troubleshooting. Catch up on reading so I will have plenty to

While I still have an earlier machine I am restoring, I found a dream machine on eBay for a great price. This is another heavy metal machine, made in Japan for Sears in 1970 or 1971. It has design cams

Sweet boy thinks if he waits with my bags by the door he can go out with me. I had to explain that it was far below freezing outside and I was going to a workplace with too much machinery that would be

I have collected all these books by Johann Hari. Over the years of struggling to help others (homeschool families and my own children) as well as myself with assorted mental issues, I have learned to regard

Feeny loves to hide and nap in Kathleen's room because the bedding matches him.

This wraps around the dress form several times. Modeled after Osgood's scarf from Doctor Who, this scarf uses a lot of yarn for its ribbed pattern. This project has been my stress relief as I watched

The contrasting sleeves are ready to be set in the armholes. I pinned one in place on the dress form to be sure I liked them. I think they will do. Here is a look at how I created the ruffled cuffs using

Without truth, nothing works. We need truth in physics, or our cars don't work. We need truth in relationships or we kill trust. We need truth in math or our budgets are off. What Elon Musk is doing with

I am back in a routine after the holiday schedule change. Sewing at a factory mornings and at home afternoons. Today I sewed the facings and ties on my wrap dress. The sleeves will be next. Some knitting

Feeny was looking quite handsome, so I took some pictures.

I bought a digital pattern on Etsy for a classic wrap dress in multiple sizes. I printed my size, assembled the pattern and cut out the pieces from a funky print fabric my mom gave me from her stash. There

We had some large items delivered and Feeny is excited to have more great boxes.

Going through my old photo files prompted many memories of classes I taught over many years at homeschool cooperatives. One class I taught for several years was British Literature. I tried to pick books

Few things make me feel more alive than sitting in Mackey Arena at my alma mater, Purdue University. Last night my husband took me to the sold out game against Rutgers. This game featured the second loudest

​Got my tools ready for a great year ahead. Here are some of my top goals in the sewing/knitting department. Finish at least 1 WIP for every new project started. Find ways to use my stash of scraps, buttons,

2022 was a year I was happy to leave behind. The sudden death of a daughter and an unwanted move from the South to the communist state of Illinois made this a year in which there were many days I just