Tag Archives: needlework

I’m rich, I’m rich

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I’m rich, I’m rich … and no, I haven’t won the Powerball lottery – at least, not yet!

The days and weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always filled with excitement, but this year – this day – seems to be even more so, what with all the talk about a $550 million Powerball jackpot that may – or may not – go out tonight.

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I succumbed to the desire to have a little Lottery ticket in my hand come 9:59 p.m. The excitement of what is to come is worth the little bit of money I spent; and the excitement that awaits the eventual winner … well, I can’t imagine!

The thing is, I think I like dreaming about coming into that much money more than I would appreciate actually winning it. Becoming an instant millionaire is a life-changing experience, and maybe I’m comfortable with my life the way it is.

I have a roof over my head, clothes in the closet, food in the cupboards, a full-time job, family, friends, hobbies and enough needlework fabric, patterns and threads to last my lifetime.

What more could I possibly want when I have so much more than so many people in this world?

Sure, I wouldn’t mind having a home with a larger bathroom (first priority) and a larger kitchen (second priority); but my house is just the right size for one person – and proves to be too much to clean already (blame it on that needlework stash previously mentioned!)

I wouldn’t mind going from extreme basic cable to expanded basic either. Then I could watch my favorite Hallmark and Lifetime movies and get my daily inspiration from HGTV and CMT. Heck, if I won the lottery, I might even invest in one of those big flat-screen televisions. For now, I’m perfectly happy with the older model.

If I won the lottery, I could afford a membership to a gym and actually hire a personal trainer – maybe even a personal chef. I could afford to get healthier.

If I won the lottery, I could give more money to my favorite charities – church, the American Cancer Society and 4-H. I could create scholarships for at-risk youths, and ensure all of my nieces and nephews, grand-nieces and grand-nephews had an opportunity to get a college education.

If I won the lottery, I would invest in land. I would travel – oh, how I would love to travel.

If I won the lottery, I could afford to try a new career. Maybe I’d become a travel writer, or maybe I’d be a stay-at-home writer of books – kids books.

If I won the lottery … I’d really hope that it wouldn’t change me.

Fair days are a’comin

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Just like the Little Engine that Could, I’ve been chanting the words, “I think I can, I think I can,” for the past few days as the 2012 Nobles County Fair gets closer. 4-H Entry Day is just a week away.

I’m sure I’m not the only one working against a deadline. The difference is, most of those stressing out right about now are 4-H’ers — those kids ages 6 to 19 that bring all of their wonderful projects to display and “make the fair go ’round.”

I’m just a little older than they are. (Hey — no need to laugh out loud!)

Every year I do this. I wait until about the middle of June and then realize I have less than a couple of months to get something stitched up and ready to enter in the open class needlework division at the Nobles County Fair.

Fortunately, I seem to always have a selection of UFO’s (unfinished objects) that I can select from and manage to finish by Entry Day. This year was no exception. After putting the final stitches on a Hardanger runner last week, I decided I might actually have time to finish another project.

So, Friday night, I discovered in my stash of UFOs a doily I started more than five years ago. (Don’t ask me why I quit working on it. Most needleworkers have to have multiple projects going at any one time so as not to get “bored.”)

By the time you read this, I will have moved on to the “wrapping” —the last stage before the ever-stressful process of cutting out the doily. One wrong move or slip of the scissors and this piece could easily end up in the wastebasket.

My stitching projects for the open class competition seem far less stressful than were my days as a 4-H’er, when I had a handful of goats to train and clip, pairs of  chickens and turkeys to wash and fluff and at least half a dozen “non-livestock” projects to complete before Entry Day.

Then again, I’m not sure stress was quite the accurate word for those pre-fair tasks. There was the excitement, the anticipation …

Hmmm, I think that’s what I’m feeling now.

Oh, I love the county fair!

Four days in the life of a reporter

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More than a few times over the last four days, I had to remind myself to just take a deep breath and exhale slowly — everything’s gonna be all right.

From Friday afternoon through Monday noon, I logged 262 work miles on my car. It began with the search for storm damage after numerous funnel clouds were reported across Nobles County Friday and ended with a trip to the newly expanded AGCO facility in Jackson Monday morning to tour the tractor assembly line (that was really awesome, by the way!)

Sandwiched between those two adventures were a trip to Windom Saturday to cover the Wings on the Prairie event and the release of five trumpeter swans; and then to Luverne on Sunday morning to capture the images and emotions of a wonderful reunion between our National Guard soldiers and their families after nearly a year apart.

I can’t even tell you how many people I interviewed during that span of days —I just know it was a lot.

It’s funny how, in the movies, the life of a reporter is often depicted to be a glamorous profession. Never are they shown eating fast food lunch in their car (I’m rather embarrassed to admit I did that three times in the last four days), frantically scribbling notes, and then, trying to decipher those same frantic notes back at the office.
By the end of the day Monday, that span of four days produced half a dozen stories, two photo galleries, more than 100 photos and this blog. Uff da.

After all of that, I must say these past four days have been an exciting, exhilarating whirlwind of work for this reporter, and nearly everything I wrote about fell into the “good news” column.

Topping the list, of course, was the troop welcome home. If I could have been in two places at the same time, I would have been at both Jackson and Luverne to cover the parades and reunions.

Sunday marked the third time in the last eight years that I’ve had the honor of covering soldiers returning home, and it’s an experience that leaves me teary-eyed every time. I’m so thankful that most of our troops are now safely home and reunited with their families. Thanks troops for the sacrifices you’ve made, for your dedication and service to a country that allows so many freedoms, including freedom of the press.

As long as we have that freedom, we will continue to bring you the news —the good and the bad —day after day.

I’ll be back at it in a couple of weeks, after taking a much needed stretch of vacation days.

I’m not sure yet how I’m going to spend my days off, but with the Minnesota fishing opener on Saturday, you can be sure I’ll get to the lake a time or two.

Mostly, I plan to sit at home, with my feet up and my overhead needlework light shining on my latest stitching project. There’s a little Godson in my life who adores John Deere tractors, and my Auction Day pattern is slowly starting to take shape.
I’d really like to have it completed by Christmas, but I refuse to set a deadline on my stitching hobby. Deadlines are for the newsroom, after all.

A little of this, a little of that

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A week ago, my mom and I were at the Iowa State Fair, admiring quilts, cross-stitch and cute goats.

We watched a grape stomp, rode the fair tram and photographed the butter cow.

We also saw a whole lot of guys in bib overalls. I think it must be an Iowa thing!

It was our first visit to the Iowa State Fair and, for the most part, I’d say it’s almost on par with the Minnesota State Fair. It lacked a foot-long hot dog stand on nearly every corner, and it doesn’t have a DNR pond filled with big fish. Yet, it did offer a Parade of Breeds in the livestock barn, which was really cool.

My favorite fair activity is to see the projects — the needle arts and the photography, especially — and I was not disappointed. There are some talented people in Iowa. (Yes, I said it in print!)

Anyway, it was a fun day away from the office. We did a lot of walking and only a little sampling (no fried foods — not even the Red Velvet funnel cake, one of the new foods featured at the Iowa State Fair this year).

If you plan a trip there next year, be sure to check out the butter cow exhibit. I looked everywhere to find out how many pounds of butter were used in the display (it features a cow, calf, boy and girl — all carved out of butter), but I couldn’t find any details until after I returned home and looked it up on the Internet.

As it turns out, Iowa uses a metal, wood and wire-frame in the shape of a cow and then smears on approximately 600 pounds of butter to make it look like a cow.

Those of us Minnesotans familiar with the Princess Kay of the Milky Way butter head display at the Minnesota State Fair might say they’re cheating.

Here in Minnesota, our display features Princess Kay (Mary Zahurones of rural Pierz was crowned Wednesday night) and the 11 Princess finalists. Each of them will get their likeness carved out of a 90-pound block of butter during the Minnesota State Fair.

If you recall, we have a pair of sisters from rural Heron Lake who were selected as Princess Kay finalists this year. Chelsey and April Johnson are the first sisters to be named finalists in the same year in the history of the Princess Kay program.

April, who was named a Princess Kay scholarship winner during Wednesday evening’s ceremony, will get her likeness carved in butter on Sunday, Sept. 4, while Chelsey’s turn is on Monday, Sept. 5, the final day of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

If you make the trek to the State Fair on Labor Day weekend, be sure to visit the butter sculptures in the Dairy Building, located at the corner of Judson Avenue and Underwood Street.

* With Hurricane Irene set to hit North Carolina this morning, I’m a bit worried about how the Outer Banks will fare.

The Outer Banks has been at the top of my dream vacation list for more than a decade. Anyone who has watched the chick flicks, “Message in a Bottle” or “Nights in Rodanthe” surely has developed a love for the beautiful scenery offered off the North Carolina coast.

In addition to experiencing the Atlantic Coast, I want to visit the five lighthouses that grace the Outer Banks, including Cape Hatteras, the tallest lighthouse in North America.

Ideally, I’d prefer to journey to the Outer Banks in September. There are two problems with that — it’s hurricane season, which makes planning impossible; and it’s a busy time at the office.

I keep saying, maybe next year, and I’ll keep hoping that hurricanes like Irene don’t completely demolish the Carolina coast.

* Just an update from last week’s blog: St.Anthony hasn’t helped me find my lost hardanger embroidery pattern book yet. I have given up my search, finished my only other UFO (unfinished object) in my hardanger stash, and have now moved on to a new pattern from a hardcover book.

A call to St. Anthony

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After working in a tiny newsroom for four years of my journalism career, I came to know a bit about Catholics.

I was surrounded by three of them in a four-person newsroom and — as the lone Lutheran — I had an opportunity to ask questions.

“What’s with the smoke and pungent smell coming from those things the priest carries around at a Catholic funeral?”

“Why do you kneel?”

“What is the purpose of the water bowl at the entrance?”

Sometimes the Catholics would laugh at my questions. Sometimes they shrugged because they didn’t know the answer; and sometimes I’d solicit their Catholic connections to help this lost Lutheran.

Well, not that I was ever lost about religion. I was baptized a Lutheran (Missouri Synod), confirmed a Lutheran, transferred to an ELCA Lutheran church in Redwood County, and then returned to a Missouri Synod Lutheran when I moved back to my hometown.

The lost Lutheran, in my case, refers to this Lutheran losing something — and that’s where my knowledge of Catholicism kicks in. They have St. Anthony — the patron saint of lost items.

I learned all about St. Anthony when I worked in the tiny newsroom in Wabasso. St. Anthony was called upon to help my co-workers find anything that was lost — from car keys to teenage kids.

From time to time, I asked them to solicit St. Anthony for me.

I could use those women in my life right about now.

For more than a week, I’ve been digging through every nook and cranny in my house looking for a particular book of hardanger (Norwegian embroidery) patterns. I started a doily probably five years ago and, now that I’m finally over my bout with tennis elbow, I intended to finish some of my UFO’s (unfinished objects). The trouble is, I can’t stitch any more on the doily until I find my instructions.

While you could say the lost item is a direct result of my age (I did turn 40 in January, after all), my excuse is the same as it often is when I lose something. Simply put, I found the pattern book in my home office months ago. I knew that it wasn’t the proper place to store such an item, and promptly put it in a safe place to be found when I needed it.

I just can’t remember where that safe place is!

Thus, I’ve emptied out all three of my bookcases and searched through both of my needlework storage towers, two binders filled with hardanger pattern books, my box of fabric, a container of stitched doilies, closets, drawers, tote bags and storage baskets. I haven’t yet reached the breaking point where I throw up my arms and scream in disgust — but I’m getting close!

My poor mom, who has to hear about my lost pattern book, says, “It will show up when you least expect it — don’t worry!”

Clearly, I did not inherit her patience!

And so, I shall turn to St. Anthony for help. I’m not sure he helps Lutherans, so if any of you are Catholic, I’d appreciate any requests you could make to your patron saint of lost items.

I found a prayer on the Internet to help guide us all, and modified it for this particular situation.

“Tony, Tony,
look around.
Julie’s pattern book is lost
and must be found!”