Finding projects to do

Los Perales success:
 Remember the blouse made from a dress pattern gone wrong?

Remember the aprons made from old trousers?

Side note: Remember how difficult it is to find the route to Los Perales? Well, one of our landmarks was a bright Peptobismol pink house at one of the turns. Can you believe that someone painted it blue without a fair warning?

Water Problems:
We had water streaming down our hall one evening. The sandbags held a great deal of water at bay, but the wind had blown water through the screen windows and it accumulated and found it's way into the house. So we went back to our favorite Ferreteria (Harware store) and got more empty sandbags. Today we have more rain, and you can see the double row of protection should do the job.



What to do with drawers that won't open:
We had 4-5 drawers that were difficult to open and close. Many years ago we learned a trick that has helped tremendously that you too might want to keep in the back- of- your- mind. Our daughter-in-law, Meesa, sent us a stick of paraffin wax in a care package. With a couple of swipes along the drawer glides, we now have functioning drawers. Now, maybe the drawer knobs will stay in place.


The tranquil life:
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14 year old Eduardo and 7 year old Facundo are enjoying the tranquil life of El Quebracho Ranch. The horse's name is Solo Uno (Only One) which belongs to their sister Victoria. Solo Uno, is the horse we unintentionally allowed to escape when we unlocked the gate last week.

Note the bare feet.

Yucca with his son Facundo are enjoying the peaceful life of the ranch. It is only 82 degrees, plenty of sun and a lower than normal humidity level. We could actually like this; but it won't last.

Note that with dad, Facundo is wearing shoes.


Free-motion machine quilting:
A prior senior missionary, Jolene Ficklin, was the one who made the beautiful quilts and wall hangings here. When we had the flea infestation, I, Amy, contacted her for advise. In our communication, I asked about her quilts and where she had taken them for quilting. She said that she had quilted them here in Argentina after taking some internet classes.

I was very intrigued and for Christmas, Gregg let me purchase the same three classes from Craftsy that Jolene had taken. So, with time to spare, I've been practicing.

I decided to find a place to use my practice quilt sandwiches. One was the piano bench pads that were stacked up in an effort to find a little comfort while piano practicing.
 Here is an example of the pad.

I cut them apart and stacked two together.

Here is the finished product...

 and here.

I also made some dust covers for the piano. Since I don't have any quilt frames, I used elastic as suggested in one of the classes to tightly hold the backing in place.


 I didn't have spray glue, or nearly enough safety pins, or pin wars as suggested, so, I improvised with straight pins encased in a piece of masking tape folded over.

 It worked great!

I put some of the practice sandwiches together for a bed throw.


 Not too bad for a beginner don't you agree?



These drapes have been repaired and shortened, but the backing is coming off, making them look dirty and in need of something.

I cut out flowers and used washable kid glue to secure them in place since I couldn't find anything else. It worked pretty well, though it had to dry overnight, and I had to use safety pins to hold the stiff fabric in place. However, it held the flowers stiff enough that they could be sewn on without wrinkling and it washed out easily when finished.


 Makes me smile to remember the difference.

 I quilted over the flowers after zigzagging them in place.

Being blessed?
We didn't make it to church today. It was suppose to rain all night but didn't. The problem came when we couldn't get out of the locked gate. We had a gaucho work on the lock for 30 minutes before giving up. When the rain hit hard about noon, we realized that it might have been raining in Feliciano for quite sometime. Perhaps, it was a blessing that we couldn't open the gate.