The devil is alive and well

It's official. This is the home of the Ruesch Deer Camp. As you might guess, different members of this family have completely different views of that status. In fact, I only learned of the move from Ruesch farm or Ruesch home to Ruesch Deer Camp when Buck came in on Saturday evening to take a picture of Alyssa and me while we were sewing. "You girls and your sewing are all part of the Ruesch Deer Camp experience," he said as he clicked away. I guess it's true. They hunt. We create.

Since gun deer season falls at Thanksgiving time, it does coincide with other major events like JoAnn's super sale and Christmas gift project planning. Not much on the whole black Friday shopping thing, Alyssa and I headed up to Wausau to buy foam for the chair cushions she will make during their 50% foam sale. We took our time leaving, but knew we had to get there before noon to get the additional 20% coupon advantage. The parking lot was packed. We actually had to wait for someone to leave to get a spot. I was looking for some apron fabric and Insulbright, but was not smart enough to take a cutting number before finding the fabric I wanted, so had to wait and wait and wait. That turned out to be to Alyssa's advantage since she was smart enough to print out JoAnn's coupons before coming home (we'd probably still be waiting for them on the old dial up). She checked out with the 50% coupon two separate times while I waited and waited to have my things cut. Then I checked out another cushion for her and we were set. She decided to brave the dial up connection and print out one more coupon to take with her so that she could stop at JoAnn's in Woodbury for the final cushion. It took a lot longer than it should have, but our trip was worthwhile. Mission accomplished. (She did manage to buy the 4th cushion before we left Wausau after noticing that the clerk did not stamp her remaining 50% coupon as void. Score!)

We went next door to Barnes & Noble so that I could pick up a book on my Christmas shopping list. So far, so good. Then I suggested we stop for a coffee and some lunch and peruse the new craft magazines. We didn't find much until I picked up one more magazine after returning all the others to their places on the rack. There on one page the devil was lurking. We should know better by now, but obviously, we don't. Last year it was a mountain of coasters. A few years ago it was 40 ... yes 40 ... aprons. And we let it happen again. The devil himself jumps off the page and into our brains and we both say at the same time, "We could make those."

Our way home was filled with planning and scheming and figuring. We made lists and figured yardage and made more lists. Saturday morning saw us heading for Marshfield to get supplies. Then it was work, work, work as we set up the assembly line to get our projects done. We made fantastic progress as we cut and ironed and sewed and stitched and cut and ironed and sewed. In the end, we have beautiful projects nearly completed. Actually, all the tedious stuff is done, there is still some construction left. Alyssa left early Sunday morning to head back to Minneapolis with a nice neat stack of projects ready to complete at her convenience. She really does have too many friends. I have a little tiny stack of similar projects since my main gift creation session will not come for a couple of weeks yet. Really, why all this timely preparation when there is still plenty of panic time left before Christmas? It's the way I do things. The devil makes me.