Revisiting

As I was unloading towels from the dryer this morning, habitually sorting out and tossing my dryer balls back in, I wondered to myself just how long it had been since I made them.

Doing a quick search here on my blog, I found the original post... It has been a full year!

Perfect timing for an update, I said to myself.

One year later, those dryer balls are holding up pretty well. Two of them have developed holes in the outer layer, but who wouldn't, after being tumbled countless times?!

I still use dryer sheets when drying anything that has a high polyester content, but otherwise find that static is pretty minimal, and the dry time does seem to be shorter than BDB (before dryer balls!).

As for the Coal Hopper featured in the same post, it has been joined by a Tunnel, and still gets lots of play time. I think this picture, showing the current state of the upstairs Boy room is all the evidence you need.

While on the topic, one final update, in case you were wondering... All last Summer, with very few exceptions, I kept up with mowing our front yard with my reel mower. I even ventured out and mowed our gigantic back yard a few times too. Fabulous excercise, I must say. It is certainly not a walk in the park, but I found it to be so very satisfying (call me weird!).

For the first time this season, I pulled my mower out yesterday and put it to use again. With quite a lot of use, and zero blade sharpening, my American-made tool went to work like it was brand new.

Now THIS American-made tool on the other hand, isn't feeling quite so brand new today. Muscles, leave me alone!

2 Things I'm Really Excited About Today

1. My new cast iron bread pans, which have been my faithful companions over the last two weeks or so as I experimented and finally found the perfect recipe for 100% whole wheat sandwich bread (see previous post for the recipe). I became a cast-iron convert several years ago, and these bread pans are a wonder! I don't even have to wash them after baking sandwich bread, because nothing sticks to them. And that is what I call perfection.

2. My new American Lawn Mower Company reel mower. Yes, I said that I'm EXCITED about a lawn mower that is powered by nothing but ME!

When I was a teenager, I was often on lawn duty at home, and always found it to be a bit cathartic. When I married and moved out here to the country, where we have LOTS of lawn to be maintained, I again, was most often the mower, but this time on a riding unit, which was much less enjoyable to me, but I still liked mowing (yet I hate doing laundry... go figure).

When Jack was born, my lawnmowing duties came to a screeching halt. There is just no way to be on a noisy, gas-guzzling lawn mower while watching little ones.

This Spring, with the wonderful coming of a season in life with children who are old enough to play happily together for long periods of time, with only distant supervision needed, I had an idea... maybe, just maybe, I could regain my mowing abilities with a reel mower. I could get some much-needed excercise, keep an eye on the kids, all while improving the quality of my lawn and helping the quality of the air that we breathe as well.

And, after the first test run last evening, I am even more in love with my new mower. Granted, what used to take 5 minutes, now takes closer to 40, but it is good, solid, hands-on hard work in the fresh air and sunshine.

And this good, solid, hands-on kind of girl couldn't be happier.

O Happy Day!

I won! I won! I won! I really so rarely every win anything, and can't tell you just how happy I am to win this particular giveaway on Paulette's blog... a $60 gift certificate to csnstores.com. I had never heard of CSN before, so was curious, and spent some time looking around. I would compare them with a company like amazon.com for their variety (although they don't seem to have as much to offer), and the prices seemed to be very competitive. Want to know what I bought?

2 cast iron bread pans, which I can hardly wait to use... a coffee grinder, which has earned top ratings as a spice grinder (which is exactly what I will be using it for- I am so happy to not have to keep scrubbing my coffee grinder out when I need to grind spices, then drinking contaminated coffee the next time, because no matter how hard I scrub it, the spices never seem to wash out well)... and a little saucier that goes with the pot set that I already have, perfect for small batches of sauces, syrups, and glazes. I'll make sure that my three new toys are featured in future blog post recipes!

In other news, I'm really happy with how my new dryer balls are working. I still have static cling issues when drying anything with polyester in it, but I can't say that I'm surprised. Overall, the dry time seems to be slightly shortened, and they have held up well through several dry cycles, including a couple of batches of denim. My favorite part... the low, quiet, steady thump, thump, thump as they go round... I find the sound soothing... is that strange?

And probably your most favorite news of all... I have finished framing the final two samplers in my Birth Sampler series. Here are all four of them propped up together on my mantle.

TA DAAA!
(cue choir music)...

Time for an Upgrade!

I have been using the very same single pair of little sewing scissors for 12 years. Yes, you read that correctly... twelve years. I don't typically lose things, and I prefer to use things until they are worn completely out. But these scissors have refused to wear out and haven't grown feet and ran away as of yet.

But I have been coveting a particular pair of scissors for over a year now, and finally gave in... but only because I needed new needles, and I could add the scissors to my order!

I "heart" my new Kelmscott Love scissors...


And the needles, Oh the needles! I have never purposely gone out and purchased a package of needles based on specifications. I simply use up the ones that are given to me in Christmas stockings, or that are embedded in a vintage pinkeep that I find at an estate sale.

But there has been a bit of chatter lately in blogland about needles, so I decided to give these a try...

Can I just say, I think that was easily the very best way I have spent $2 in a very long time? They are absolutely perfect for me, and I think that my stitching is going quicker now too.

Oh... the odd-sized needle in the package is what I was using before, just for comparison. I also bought a package of Piecemakers needles, which has yet to be opened, because I can't stop using my teeny little John James.

What needles do you use?