A baker’s dozen

I’ve made thirteen linen napkins to go with Don’s 70th birthday table cloth

using Malka’s hand-dyed linen and Deb’s magical threads, worked in complementary colors with the hem stitches proudly visible …

And if the linen looks a little wrinkled, well that’s as it’s meant to be, in my humble opinion. My modus operandi after laundering linen napkins is to give them a good snapping shake, smooth out the wrinkles on a flat surface (seen here on my bed), and then hang them out to dry on my bamboo drying racks (which I also use for all my other laundry) …

After all, why waste electricity on ironing after saving it by not using a dryer (which also does horrible things to linen).

Speaking of the dryer … ours was 14 years old and the auto-off switch no longer worked. I only ever used the dryer for a few minutes to shake out wrinkles before air drying my laundry. So when a critter got into our dryer last week and died a horribly malodorous death, I decided I didn’t really need a dryer any longer. No more wasting electricity on drying and better yet, I now have a wealth of new storage space in the laundry room. That’s a win-win in my book.

And speaking of winning, I felt a great weight lifted this past weekend with the news that Joe Biden nobly stepped aside. After which I became one of the small-dollar donors who contributed close to $50 million to ActBlue yesterday in the name of making a positive difference.

I dare to hope for the best come November.

Birthday season

Don turned 70 on June 17th, so we began the celebrations with a dinner party …

including a simultaneous singalong from the St Louis crew (an Ackert family tradition) …

Above the table was our gift to selves …

our six grandchildren imaginatively portrayed by artist Jill Pankey

who we have gotten to know through our visits to the Assemblage gallery

The table cloth then traveled with us to St Louis, where it found itself at the scene of an amazing homemade hibachi dinner …

Last, but far from least, I asked each one of my loved ones to sign the cloth (with heat-erasable pens), after which I stitched all their names with Deb’s threads

Lest we forget (as if).

Pity party

It’s “done” …

Which is to say, the original tablecloths (one full size, plus an added piece to get some more length) have been completely covered with patchplay blocks …

I’m pretty sure I’ll be adding rows of quilting after I launder the cloth and see what more it needs.

But not anytime soon, as my hands took a beating when I tripped on an uneven sidewalk paver during my walk this morning …

My phone case has seen better days, too. Next time out I’ll be sure to keep my eyes on where my feet are going 🙄