It's been a strenge week in Woodbury

As I was thinking about the title of this post, I was reminded of "It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegone."  It has been far from quiet here.  First of all, I know it is Friday,  but it is still the week after my last posting so I made it for another consecutive week.  I have some friends and relatives who what to know that I am alive and kicking; I am trying to be a faithful blogger to do that.  If I bore you, you always know you can skip reading the blog. 
Well, it has been a strange week.  It started last Saturday when I decided that like it or not, I had to wash the huge, heavy hand crocheted tablecloth that we have been using in the family for weddings.  Both Saturday and Sunday were supposed to be a little warmer than average and sunny.  If I washed the tablecloth now, I could spread it outside on towels and a large piece of unbleached muslin to dry.  My grandmother crocheted the tablecloth; I have been its guardian after both of my sisters were married.  It is time now to pass it on so someone else can be its guardian.  But and this is the clinker, it needs to be washed first.  I liberally dumped Oxi-clean in a bathtub half full of cool water.  In went the tablecloth.  I let it soak for the afternoon.  I think my grandmother would have been horrified to know what I did to it. But honestly, I do not have any other tub large enough to do the job the way that she could.  She never had Oxi-clean so I do not know if the idea of using it would have curled her naturally straight hair or not.  I did the best I could with it.  I used the hand shower to rinse the tablecloth.  I squeezed as much water out of it but it still had a lot and was so heavy I was afraid I would stretch it if I carelessly lifted it.  I put lots and lots of towels on the floor and carefully laid it out folded in half the long way.  It is more than a yard wide and almost 100 inches long.  I put lots more towels on top of it and rolled it up.  I rolled back and forth over this humungous sausage type roll to squeeze as much moisture out of it as possible; let's face it at this point it was water not moisture.  When I unrolled and folded it to put it in my Rubbermaid tub overnight, it was unbelievably light.  Sunday I did put out the towels and unbleached muslin on the grass and spread out the tablecloth.  It was surprising how much moisture evaporated from it during the rest of the day.  I brought it inside for the night and laid it out on the dining room floor the way it was outside.  It was almost dry Monday morning so I left it on the floor to finish drying. 

I desperately need to feel a finish so I am pushing ahead with The Dog House sampler.  I talked with my friend to get the spelling of her grandson's name and birthdate to add to it.  It is going to fit perfectly. 

Oh yeah, the other strange thing.  Saturday my model came from my editor.  I promptly started to work on it but was surprised.  The design is x rows high; the width of the banding that was included will become the height of the design.  The banding is x-8 or so rows narrower than the height of the design.  Immediate plea for help went out even though I knew my assistant editor would not see it until Monday.  I could stitch the design without the lettering or I could stitch it over one but it would become minuscule, 1 3/8 inches by almost 3 inches.  The decision:  the person who selected the design and ordered the banding was out of the office for the week.  My assistant editor did not feel comfortable making that decision herself so would I please send it all back. 

That's why I desperately feel the need to have a finish. 

The anniversary sampler is more or less on hold.  I did the repair work, to the right of the partially finished central cartouches, one of which is done.  It still feels like it is stitched in a foreign language that I do not understand.  It is not mine and it is difficult to get in to the swing of things with it. 

During the odd moment or two, I am knitting.  I have some odd lot yarn that I knit into two scarves for the free clothing store that my church maintains with two other churches in the area.  I still have enough yarn to make two more scarves. 

One last picture.  Cosmo has become my constant companion.  He follows me around the house.  When I do the laundry, he comes downstairs with me and sits outside the laundry room until I finish and go upstairs.  We are catching our breath in the middle of the day.