Visiting the Vancouver Community Library

Crossroads

Goal number ten on my March list was to see the exhibition of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild quilts that library staff hung throughout the Vancouver Community Library. As I've written, driving more than about 20 minutes causes tremendous pain in my right knee. So, I've not been driving more than to work and to medical appointments that are within that range.

Circling the Sun

My friend, Theresa offered to drive me to the library last Sunday. We went. This library is open seven days a week. There are five floors with books available on floors one, three, four and five. It is a beautiful building with lots of spaces for reading. There are even a couple terraces! 

Fly Home

We browsed the floors and found all the quilts and 3-D items on display. I had provided a fourth quilt; but, the staff didn't hang it. Likely, they ran out of hanging space! All my entries were inspired by books. It was cool to see them hanging in the library! 

Crossroads hung on the first floor. The other two quilts hung on the fourth floor on either side of member, Linda P. As we were admiring her quilt, we saw her! It was great to see her in person! We met her husband and a friend who had come to see the display.

Theresa's hummus

On our way home, we stopped at the grocery store so I could purchase some spinach and crackers for our late lunch. Theresa wanted to know how I made hummus so we made a batch together. When I make hummus, most of the time I give half of it away because one can of chickpeas makes more hummus than I can comfortably eat before it spoils. 

Sweet potato, spinach and chicken soup

As we prepared the hummus, I washed the spinach and added it to my soup. It simmered while we finished the hummus. The soup contained grated fresh ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper, poblano pepper, onion, lentils sweet potato, spinach, chicken and chicken broth. It was delicious. The hummus was delicious. Theresa took hummus and soup home with her!

Mending the jeans

After lunch, she showed me a pair of jeans that she had purchased and worn one time. At the pockets and belt loops, the denim had split. Upon inspecting the rent, it looked like the fabric had been cut underneath those areas. No wonder there were holes! They were Wrangler jeans which usually are well made. I used a product called Bo-Nash to mend the rips. I sprinkled a little Bo-Nash powder on the rip; placed a denim scrap over the powder and heated the fabrics until the powder melted. 

The birthday girl

It takes some time to get the denim hot enough for the powder to melt. Theresa is planning to add hand embroidery stitches around all those areas. Her pants will be one of a kind and those ripped areas will be thoroughly reinforced. I hope she shares her pants after she finishes the embellishments! We both laughed at how that was popular when we were teens! 

Trying a new swimsuit on for size

Monday was Miss A's second birthday. My husband flew last week to be with Miss A and family for her special day. I made her a swimsuit a couple sizes too big so she had a suit to grow into. After she opened her package, she immediately wore it. First, it was upside down. Second, it was backwards. Third, she had her two legs through one leg opening. She asked her papa to help. 

On the move and pool ready 

He managed to stretch the suit on over her clothes. It was good that the suit was too big. Otherwise, the suit wouldn't have fit over all that clothing. She proceeded to wear it while she opened her other gifts. I was tickled she liked it so much!

I also have news--I have a date for my knee joint replacement surgery: April first . . .no fooling!! I'm looking forward to being a little more mobile, although I will need my other knee joint replaced before I will feel like I could travel again without causing myself major pain.