Product Review: Grandma's Secret Spot Remover

Have you ever discovered a small yellow, oily spot on a just-finished garment or quilt?  It's so easy to touch the fabric to a machine part, and one tiny touch is enough for the machine oil to get into the fabric.  Since fabric is so absorbent, a few seconds can wick even more oil from the machine.

What to do about the oil?  Certainly washing is necessary, but oil must be pretreated before the fabric is put into the machine.  I've tried lots of different concoctions for removing the oil, especially when I was quilting large quilts on my home machines.  Because the throat is so small, I had to bunch up the quilt layers to fit them into the small space.  That meant that quite often the bunched quilt would fold and roll toward the machine, touching the needle or needle bar, which I tend to oil almost every time I clean and oil the machine.  That sometimes meant staining the quilt multiple times with small dots of yellow that refuse to leave.  

Recently I pick up a work in progress that I'd put aside for about two years.  I had several problems of oil stains and even a blood stain from getting pricked on the finger while trying to quilt on the home machine.  I decided to finish the quilt then attempt to get the stains out.  I figured that two years of sitting on the shelf had given the stains plenty of time to penetrate and harden, so if they were coming out, waiting a few more days would not make much difference.  I finished the quilt and purchased some of the Grandma's Secret Spot Remover.  I had not used it before but had read a couple of good reviews and spoken to a couple of people who really like the product.  What the heck!  I gave it a try and was pleased beyond description!  Every stain came out--blood, oil, dust.  All of it.                                                                                     

The white on this quilt is unbelievably white and crisp.  I love this stuff!  Who would not love something that cleans so well, and with so little effort.  I simply poured a small amount of the spot remover directly on the spot and rubbed it in using my fingers.  Let it sit up for about five minutes while the machine filled with water, added my usual laundry detergent, then tossed the quilt into the washer.  

I'll admit that I was a bit worried about taking the quilt out, thinking that the really bad spots would still be there.  No, not at all!  What a relief!  If you find yourself looking at one of those mean little (or big) spots that is almost impossible to remove, reach for some Grandma's and it will be gone in the time it takes to load the washer and launder.

Success!

Yes indeed!  Our Prom was a success.  The kids loved the background, there were no major issues, and we closed it down in time to get home for about 2 a.m.  Yeah, that was the hard part....until Sunday afternoon when we had the cleanup to face.  But we faced it bravely and finished the entire cleaning in about five hours.  Sure there were two of us, Richard and I, but we managed somehow to pull everything down, haul out the trash, store the goodies, sweep, mop, and return tables then get home in time to cook a delicious crawfish etouffe supper for our crew of children and grandchildren.

Don't ask how.....I could not tell you.  I simply kept going and going until it was done.  Tylenol, water and one hard sleep seem to be the only way to recover.  Really, could I be getting too old for this?  I'm beginning to think it's time to give it all to someone younger with good knees.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't exactly like this, but it sure was close and it was beautiful. And the seniors were pretty impressed.

I had hoped to post pics but legally I'd have to get permission forms signed by parents, and that's just not going to happen.  Instead, I've already moved on to preparing for testing.  Tomorrow is my last day to get the materials ready before the checkup crew comes in for an inspection.  So, that's where my money, eggs, and brain are for the next week........one basket filled with testing, testing, testing.

I certainly hope I can find my studio when all this is over!  (My fear is that I'll forget where it is.)

Bleaggghhh

I know, an English teacher should know that "bleaggghhhh" is not a word.  Too bad, sound it out.  Definitely it's the only word/sound that comes close to my current state of YUCK.  Don't you just love a disgusting stomach bug?  That's what I'm bound to have.  I left school in a state of misery to arrive home much worse and getting worse still.  Hours of sleep later and I feel human, but this bug probably won't let me go.  Sure hope I can make it to work tomorrow......Prom does not decorate itself, and we're building an Eiffel Tower in the after noon.  After all, how can we have "Midnight in Paris" if there's no ET?
This is what our setting should look like: check out that Eiffel Tower and the beautiful gates.  Yes, all that!  So far, we've built the little lights, the hedges, and the gates.  We'll finish the columns that hold up the gates tomorrow and work on the tower.  Friday is the final day of setup, so we'll be scrambling but I'm hopeful that we have enough already built that we won't be cleaning and decorating all night.  Saturday is the BIG DAY.  No decorating, no preparing.......hair, dresses, tuxedos, limos, etc. but nothing at school until the music and photographer arrive.  Sunday is cleanup and Monday it's all d-o-n-e!  Of course, I get to do it all with my new friend, stomach bug.


Here's hoping that this is one bug that does not find you, and that our Eiffel Tower goes up without a hitch.  I'll post pictures of the final outcome this weekend.  Most likely, between my stomach bug and Prom, there won't be many posts in the next day or two.

More Spring Pictures

Indian Hawthorne on one side of house
Really, it's as tall as I am, but I don't want to cut it.
 I love the messy, overgrown look!

Today's post is going to consist of mostly pictures, because, well, there's only so much to say about one's yard, or springtime, or how much of the work I didn't do.  So I'll spare you the verbage, or at least some of it.  The photos are pretty cool, though, so here's a look.

Lady Banks rose that someone ran over last year.  Still going strong, but I really
expected it to die after a son (who will remain nameless) squashed it to the ground
last summer.  It looks good and there are new shoots coming from the roots.
So, maybe.........

An oak in the front yard putting
on it's new green leaves

Ornamental pear--flowers are finished; greening up

This pyracantha bush is the one that had all the berries last fall.
The next photo is the one I took and posted in Nov., I think.  

Pyracantha berries last fall.  Note that they are all gone now.
The birds wait to eat these last , but I guess they finally decided to dig in,
because there is noting left of the berries on the pic from today.

Cottontop Cutty

I spent much of my Sunday afternoon with my baby, and Cotton got a trim.  Two hours later and he's maybe a little worse for wear.  Definitely I was.  


First we had to set up a clipping center and, since he hates getting a haircut even more than I dread giving him one, it takes more than just a simple table to plop him down on.  A few years ago we purchased a serving cart for the patio.  Since we rarely use it for serving anything, I decided to try it out for other duties.  

I often put plants on it because the wheels make moving them around much easier.  Today I used it to contain Cotton while trimming his overly long winter coat.  After I hauled out the clippers, combs, scissors, and so on, I cornered him.  He can tell, I'm absolutely certain, when it's about to be 'bathtime' or grooming time or whatever time.  


Check out the hair piles!  After it's all done, I still have to clean up, so back to the utility go the clippers, combs, etc. To get rid of the hair, I sweep it up and toss it out in the yard.  



The birds will come along for the next few days and pick it up to add to their nests. I supposed their nests are warmer and softer,  so I'm sure the chicks appreciate that we are so earth-friendly.  Now if only Cotton could appreciate how much he helps the birdies by getting a good winters-end trim.

 

At least he appreciates that it feels much better.  When he was finally allowed to escape, he raced around the yard jumping and hopping and shaking off the weighty feeling of all that hair.  


He still needs a bath after the haircut, but that will have to wait till he slows down a bit.  In the meantime, I will walk around the yard checking out the new growth, the work we did over the weekend and the work left to be done in the next few weeks.  

Elizabeth Enright's books

Elizabeth Enright's Melendy quartet 
The Saturdays
The Four-Story Mistake
Then There Were Five
Spiderweb for Two

Going through a box of old books that we hauled from the middle school, I discovered a particularly old one with a vaguely familiar-sounding title, Then There Were Five.  I have no idea what was familiar about it, but I decided to carry it home and find out.  


This book, it turns out, was one of my favorites when I was young.  I am fairly sure that I read the book, and its companion volumes, a least two or three times a year throughout my middle school years.  I loved the characters, their antics, and their decidedly old-fashioned ways and language.  


Written in the 1940's, the four book set is about a family of four siblings who live in an older home with a cupola on the roof, called the Four-Story Mistake.  While their father is away away working for the government during World War II, the Melendy children--Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver-- spend an eventful summer in their new home making friends with other children in the countryside, especially the orphaned Mark Heron.    

S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders  
another favorite novel from my childhood

I wanted very much to be just like Randy (Miranda) and Mona: artistic, graceful, and grownup, able to dance, draw and write.  I even practiced reading and listening to conversations simply because Mona was adept at doing both at the same time.  As one in a family of girls, I also wanted brothers, and Rush and Oliver were just polite enough and brotherly enough to do quite well.  



Reading the book again at 51 is surprisingly fun and entertaining.  I'm finding that while I don't remember the story very well, small details bring memories flooding back.  If you've not had the pleasure of rediscovering a favorite book from childhood, I strongly recommend that you give it a try.  



Although I've thought of the characters over the years, I could not remember the title or the author and so could not find it.  I assumed that it was simply one of the many novels lost in my mind.  There are so many that I've read, that occasionally I even forget the story.  I suppose this means I'll have to return to more of those oldies but goodies!




Works cited: all book cover photos from Amazon.com

Butterfly Kisses

Remember the sweet kisses your child fluttered on your face as a child?  I loved those kissy-kisses from my boys.  Since they are all grown up and getting butterfly kisses from their own daughters, or will be soon anyway, I can say that's been a long time since I got butterfly kisses.  Of course, I miss those sweet moments.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to go back or anything, but I do think of them fondly, like any normal momma with three strapping men to call sons.
After my little Jolie gave me butterfly kisses last weekend, I decided to make a quilt with little butterflies fluttering around.  It was easy enough--although I do admit cutting out a decent butterfly without a drawing or pattern wasn't particularly easy.  I tried drawing a butterfly at first, but I'm not that kind of artist.  So I folded a piece of paper in half and cut out that might be a butterfly on another planet.  But I kept finagling it and trimming it till finally I had more pieces of paper on the floor than in my hands.  That's usually some sort of sign, so I started playing with the pieces that looked Martian and decided that if I turned the wings upside down, and made the head a little more round and maybe a little more proportional to the body, I might almost have something.


Surprise!  It is a butterfly!  And not half bad, at that.

In the end I had two goals--to make the quilt "modern" by using large blocks of fabrics, and to include a butterfly motif that I could change up if the mood struck me.  The mood always strikes when I'm very close to figuring something out.  So, instead of one or two large (as in huge) butterflies, I added several different colored butterflies and used three different butterfly patterns.


 Somehow I happened to have a decent little floral print with really nice butterfly pictures, so I started with that.  The piece was pretty small, although longish.  I added pinks, a yellow, a green, and a blue and glued the butterfly appliques on using fusible web.  Then I loaded the whole thing onto the long arm and played.  I barely started when I decide to quilting using a stipple and quilting in ghost butterflies along with some butterfly words.  I used the pattern from the appliques to draw the ghost butterflies with my quilting pencils, which washed out beautifully.

My plan was to sell "Butterfly Kisses" in my Etsy shop, but when my sister saw it, she decided to purchase it for her grand-daughter. Then I posted a photo on Facebook and a few more friends/family asked about it.  Apparently modern is in or lots of people like butterflies.