Spring is on the way, the daffodils are blooming and the sun is shining between spells of dreary rain. I'm so looking forward to spring and getting out in the yard to clean up the mess from the winter. So many pieces of pine limbs down not to mention the driveway is covered in pine needles. That's the bad thing about living in the trees, you get pine needles all winter long and when spring arrives the trees start dropping that yellow pollen that gets into everything and gives your cars a coat of yellow.



I've not been blogging for months. I didn't have anything to say. Nothing was going on here at my house, the sewing machine was quiet and projects put on hold. Just not feeling up to anything that took any thought or energy.



My sisters, SIL and I have started having a monthly or whenever get together to sew, chat and gorge ourselves on our favorite pizza. We've all been doing baby blankets and our Xmas wall hanging project from last year is almost done or at least theirs is and mine is almost there. I've just some embelishments to add that couldn't be done before the quilting or binding was finished. I'm going to suggest as a project to do a row or round robbin as I would like to have a quilt my sisters/SIL have contributed to.



Tomorrow we have a funeral to attend. A distant cousin who none of us has meet has passed away and we feel we must attend. We know her father quite well and he always attended all the doings for our Mom. It gives me thought that none of us are getting any younger and we are starting to loose those close to us. Getting old does have it's disadvantages.



I have a quilt in the works. My son who sometimes works for a roofer is coming up in June to roof my house. His sometimes boss has so graciously offered to drive him up here with all his tools and help put the new roof on with no charge to me. What a nice man. He has friends up in this area and a good excuse to come north. So as a Thank-you I am putting together a scrappy TATW for him to take home. I'm almost done with the blocks, just need to square them up and stitch into a top, fix a backing then ready to load onto the LA (really short arm) and get it quilted.

I don't care if you think I shouldn't be on the table, I'm the boss here.

Bonnie Hunter

I love Bonnie's blog.



I just read her blog about stash and how much to buy. It brought back memories of when I first started quilting and fabric shopping. A fabricholic I became, everything that caught my eye I had to have. Seems silly to have a room full of fabric you know you will never use in your lifetime and when you are no longer here somebody will have to decide where it goes and how to deal with it.



Over 5 years ago I went on a fabric diet, not buying anything that happened to catch my eye cause it was interesting, a color I happened to like or just had to have for one reason or another. The only thing I've purchased is batting and an occassioal something for a special quilt. There's been no "gosh this sure is neat fabric or wow, I know at some point I can do something with this". I want to empty my cupboards, my totes of all the fabric I have. I don't want my kids to have to decide what to do with Mom's quilting stuff. vbg



I've invited my youngest sister to come shop my stash for whatever she wants. I want to get rid of it, I'm tired of seeing it in my sewing room. It takes up way too much room, leaving me with just enough space to stand and turn around. I no longer love it, and dont' want it.



It's amazing the amount of money we spend buying fabric and gadgets to make our sewing easier and then it just sits there to get dusty until we pass if off to somebody else who can then do the same thing we have.



I admit to being a quilting junkie. I love fabric and quilts but there comes a time for when just how many quilts does a person need. The ones I make now, I give away as the pleasure comes from making them not storing them on a shelf for someday.



I've 24 blocks done for the bargain quilt. They are going together pretty quickly. My only planning on this qlt is to have at least a yellow or red in each block. I think this will be a really outragous scrap Trip around the World. I wanted to participate in the mystery quilt Bonnie is posting but just don't have the time as this TATW has a deadline.

Gratitudes.

For family who always there when needed
Thanksgiving with my sister's family

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

TO ALL

MY FRIENDS IN BLOGLAND.

Leftovers

as in all the left over pieces from all the quilts and such I have done. I have all these pieces and didn't have a clue what to do with them. While over on Quiltville.com looking for one of Bonnies free patterns/tutorial I saw the perfect pattern for them. A super scrappy Trip Around the World. I had all these 2.5" squares cut so sorted them into stacks of sixes and then just grabbed a light, a dark, a medium and put them together. When all my squares are used I'm going to do Bonnie's strip method. It seems much easier and quicker and quick is what I need.

John came home last weekend and bargained with me for a raise in our weekly allowance (yes we have allowances). He bargained for a quilt for another of the bartender friends down in Portland saying I had so many laying around surely I could donate one to this young lady who has recently gone into remission. I'm not sure what kind of CA she had but remission it is. Lest you think otherwise, these young ladies are all of the age where he considers them his children/grandchildren as he's never had either of his own, just mine. I don't mind, they all look after him like a favorite father/grandfather.

To make a long story shorter, I don't have any quilts I'm ready to part with, what I have left are for ME. Call me selfish, maybe I am but.....these are my favorites....I don't want to share them with anybody. So I promised I would have a quilt ready hopefully by the next time he comes home for a weekend and if not the following one. It will be a dash to the finish line.

I recently started the process of having dental implants. Not to be too gross, I had a loose tooth that really needed to come out. I was hanging onto it. Vanity you know, hated the thought of maybe having to have another partial so called the Orthodonist, made an appt to have the tooth taken out and a bone graft done. While sitting here at the puter, the darned tooth just fell out. Wednesday I went for the bone graft. OUCHIE. While the pain is mostly gone now, I look like I'm storing nuts for the winter or have a pretty good sized plug of tobbacy in my jaw which is turning all shades of purple/yellow. Major swelling/bruising. It's a shame we can't grow more teeth as we need them.

My brother called yesterday to see if I was home. I'd been talking to him about replacing the wood in the front porch and he came out and did it yesterday. He's been off work a lot this past year and any little bit helps out. Ocean Kayak recently closed here in our town putting his wife out of a very good paying job and onto Unemployment. The porch re-do is very professional, a jack of all trades he is. Why hire somebody for a job when you can pay your siblings to do the same job just as well and at a rate that is acceptable to you and them.

Saturday is another planned sister day of sorts. We are almost done with putting our next years raffle quilt together. There's 2 blocks that still need to be re-done. A little setback and then we can lay it out, play with the blocks till we have a combo we all like to stitch together. This has not been fun, to many different 1/4"s and rip, rip, rip and re-do. Any suggestions on how to get 7 different people, machines and 1/4" feet to be a accurate would certainly be appreciated. Had thought of getting everybody "The Angler" with hopes that would work but......when you have an "it's close enough", a speed demon who needs to "do more blocks than everybody else" you tend to have problems.

Gratitudes

A brother who does carpenter work and anything else you need.

A sister who gets up on the roof to clean gutters and stacks wood for me.

A DH who takes very good care of me

A roof over my head and enough to eat.

Good Health when so many don't have that good health.

I wish I had interesting things to write about but I just don't. There's not much that happens up here in the woods. The deer come by for their apples each and every day. My furballs need attention as well each and every day. I think I live a very boring life, a real hermit stay at home who hardly ever gets out much. I no longer belong to any quilting guild or have friends other than my sisters to quilt with. My big excitement for the week is a trip to the grocery store and a stop for a cuppa or two with one of my sisters.

Less you think I am whining I'm not. I like my solitude to enjoy the deer in the yard, the birds who visit the feeders and the squirell who raids them to the point of climbing right inside. Even the deer raid the bird feeders this time of year. Up on their hind legs those long toungues just slurping up the seed.

My days are spent just puttering around, lots of puter games and keeping up with all my online friends. Some days I spend curled up in my lazy boy with a good book to keep me company other days I go on a cleaning frenzy, shoveling out shelves and closets that have become catch alls for what ever seems in my hand at the moment. The other day I got ambitious and like a whirlwind went through the house with a frenzy making everything clean and shiney. Even got into the laundry room to de-clutter the shelves. In 15 min a bag was ready for Goodwill and my shelves all neatly arranged. Found things I didn't remember having like a super table cloth my Mom embroidered and crocheted an edging on. Makes a person wonder why they let things slide for so long when it takes such a short few minutes to straighten it all up.

Last week I took down my yellow ribbon while my sister's neighbor put a flag on her mailbox. I was celebrating my Nephew coming home from Afaganistan while she was mourning the loss of her grandson. He is the first soldier our county and little town has lost to this awful war. The whole town turned out to honor him as he was brought home. It has hit quite close to home as it could have been my nephew instead of her grandson. We are a family of many who have been in or retired from the military. We give thanks to all those who are now serving their country.

Do you ever get really bored and don't know what to do with yourself so you sit in front of the computor and play silly games. I seem to be in that "boordom" mode for the last month or so. Can't get too interested in anything so find myself on facebook tending my crops, milking my cows and collecting eggs on farmville. Now just how silly is that for a grown woman of 70 years?

I've found some games that are challenging and tend to spend waaaaay too much time playing them when I should be being creative in my sewing room.

My little fawns are growing up into young ladies and gents. They come each and every day for apples that I cut up for them. They're spoiled and I love doing it. My yard is their favorite laying down place during mid day. I can look out my window and see several of them laying down chewing away on their cuds.

My sister came out a couple days ago to use my quilting machine. She came all afraid that she would ruin it and it would be difficult to use. I loaded up the practice piece I use, on went the machine and I turned her loose. After a hesitant pass or two she got right into it. Of course as it happens I got a bobbin in backwards and we crawled around the floor under the machine picking out one big birds nest. The top she did was for her granddtr's birthday on Saturday. It's on to pantograms next for her. She did a supurb job and even wrote her gdtrs name in one of the borders with the year.

I've been spending my evenings in front of the TV handquilting my 12 Days of Christmas wall hanging. I'm down to the last four blocks before I do the small connecting squares and finish with the embelishments. It's so much easier to do them after the quilting. The beads don't tend to pop off. I will be happy to have this one done and out of the way as I'm really getting tired of it. It's a beautiful pattern but 7 months on the same project is way toooooooo long.

We've been working on our raffle quilt for next year and only a few more star blocks to finish before we can lay the blocks out and decide on how it's to be.

It's to be a tripple Irish Chain with star blocks in the centers of the chain. One of these years I'm going to win the raffle quilt and I would like to win this one. vbg

John (DH) called this evening. His ship may be leaving in a day or two to go down off the coast of CA where the helo and plane collided. He says while he doesn't like to get underway this is different. He feels the families should be able to have their loved ones back and not left out in the ocean. They are going on a recovery mission. Please say a prayer for all the families of those that have lost their lives.

When we think of our gratutdes and what we are thankful do we ever think of our Coast Guard. Mountain Rescue, our Military members at the end of the day? These people risk their lives daily to help each and every one of us in one way or another. Each of us has military members in our family be they current or from years past that we should thank and say a prayer for. Today I took down my yellow ribbon from my garage in support of my nephew who has returned from Afiganistan.

I leave you tonight with my silly kitty Roscoe who might have well has said "don't bother me I'm busy eating my salad".

I thought I would update my blog tonight and while there came across this entry from 2009 that I had saved in Drafts. After reading it I thought it surely did apply to this time of year when we give thanks for dear husbands, children, family, and our very lives. As we get along in years we change how we think...things that were never important to us as young people become so much more important as we travel along the road to our twilight years.

When I initially wrote this entry, I had just been to the doctor and given the news that I had a very bad heart. A year later, a new doctor and my heart is fine even though the medications I was prescribed I never took. I had been told I had to stop smoking (yes I really should) and couldn't have another drink ever. New ultra sound and my heart has improved and in better condition than it was a year ago.

Here is the post I found in my drafts. My mother had recently passed away and I was feeling a bit sad and, siblings came to mind, how much they do for each other and are always there when needed. . We've developed a much closer relationship since we lost our mother. All our little complaints about each other, our getting angry and not speaking have gone by the wayside.


When I started this blog with Maverick Quilters it was with the idea that yes I am a maverick. Little did I know maverick was not only in quilting per se but in who I am and how I live my life. Long ago I decided I am who I am, take it or leave it.

Today I thought a lot about my sisters/brothers, how much they mean to me, how much they do for me, how they watch out for me and are there when the need arises. I'm not getting any younger and there are times I just can't manage to do what needs doing. My youngest sister came out today and stacked a cord of wood for me. She didn't expect anything other than a hot cup o' coffee and maybe a cookie or two. My BIL lost his job a year ago and they live on unemployment, they do manage the very necessities, pay their mortgage and get by. However little goodies they can't afford. If I can help in anyway I will, so today altho' she is my sister and will help me whenever I need it, I pay her for her most gracious help. I'm a firm believer in the fact that they may be family but if you had to hire somebody for the job you needed to have done you would pay and pay very dearly.

It gives us all a time to pause and consider the very job we need to have done. What would it cost us to hire it out, who would we hire and would they be reasonable and dependable. It also gives us the thoughts that altho' they are family their time is precious to them and they could be doing something else. We also need to think about how often we take advantage of our siblings, mother, father as they have a special skill that we don't. The sister that can make a new BBQ cover, the brother who fixes the annoying little things wrong with your car, the sister who can put down flooring as good as any professional around. We all take advantage of our families even when we don't mean too. We need to think of how we would all feel if we were on the other end of the giving.

Today it's not about me or what I am accomplishing, it's about family and how much a part of our lives this very family is. My family which now is my siblings mean everything to me. Without them there is no reason to be. They provide my lifeline when John is out to sea. They are there for me, I can call at anytime and they will come.

When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, say a prayer for your family that they will enjoy a long and healthy life.

Summers Gone and Winters Coming

Gosh, where did summer get off to so quickly. One day it was June and the next here it is almost October and winter.

It's been quite a summer for me. We lost our brother in May quite unexpectedly. He went for a colonoscopy and had a heart attack. A week later we were attending his funeral. The very day they were taking my brother off life support my former friend arrived at my door early in the morning telling me she couldn't wake her significant other up, that he was cold. Before long I had the EMT's, sheriff, coronor, security staff and her family all in my house while the necessary arrangements were made to remove him. I finally left as we sisters had to get to the hospital telling them to lock the door when they left. Not long after that my garbage man fell off his truck landing in my driveway suffering some serious injuries. It was quite a week and gave me pause to re-evaluate how precious life is and how we should live it as if it were our last day here on earth.

Life went on and we had our 4th of July celebration, our family picnic , John returned to the ship and we ended the summer celebrating our youngest sisters birthday.

My sisters and I have been working on our raffle quilt for next year. We spend a couple Saturdays, potluck in hand in one of my sister's shop sewing away. We got carried away and purchased fabric without thinking. When we came to our senses we realized the colors we chose were way to kiddy and girlish for this bunch of farm raised family. Traditional patterns like Log Cabin and Irish Chain with fabric colors more resembling what we grew up with will do much better than a modern quilt pattern with bright colors. Off to the LQS we went for more fabric which we all like better than what we had picked out. Our pattern is a Dbl Irish Chain with the Ohio Star block as the center of the chains. It's turning out quite well and we've yet to froggy stitch blocks as we did last year due to paying better attention to seam allowances.

I started this update several days ago and re-reading it how depressing all this stuff is. Life has a way of rearing it's ugly head and kicking us square in the patootie. If we let us get ourselves down we haven't the time to stop and smell the roses. I think I am going to stop and smell the roses and try to dwell on more pleasant things other than death and dying in the future.

I've been working on my 12 Days of Christmas wall hanging and I'm almost to the point where I can do some trapunto stuffing. I'm quite pleased with how its turning out and although its been a trial and error with fabrics for the different blocks I'm down to the very last one.

I've just a bit of embelishments to do and stitch down and I will have 10 of the 12 blocks finished. This has been a really big project for me as my eyes just aren't what they used to be and needle turn is getting to be more than I can do. Don't you just jate getting old? I'm sorry I've duplicated one of the photo's and haven't a clue how to remove it.

I've been seriously waisting my time and thought y'all might get a bit of a giggle. We all need a little laughter in our lives. I signed up for facebook and before I kew it I was playing at building a farm, tending my crops and helping my neighbors. As if this wasn't enough of a time waister, I am hooked on the bejeweld blitz and spend hours trying to get ahead of my sisters and SIL. While my little game of farming doesn't take much time that silly game has me hooked and I spend hours trying for a better score, something enough to surpass the top player. I keep telling myself just one more game and then realize this must be what a gambler says as he/she puts that nickel, dime or quarter in the slot machine.

I'll leave you with a gorgeous sunset on the beach at my sister's house taken while they were out in the kayaks.

Gratitudes:

Family who are always there when you need them.

Children and grandkids that are all in good health.

Sisters to spend a Saturday with sewing.

The gorgeous autum weather with no rain in sight.

A day for ME to spend as I like.

A toddy for the body when the day is done.

And most of all the friends I've met in the net.

Like 4 giddy teenagers, cars loaded down, my sisters and I gathered at the beach for a jammie party with plans of stitching away at our projects, good food, lots of giggles, a kayak paddle and watching the sun set over the water dancing in our heads. Cars unloaded, air mattress's set up we were ready for the fun to begin, no kids, DH's, gkids, friends or neighbors allowed.

Out came my fabric, pencils, fusible sheets and away we went getting these blocks ready to blanket stitch down. With a flurry of scissors, and iron they were finished in a flash, ready for some blanket stitching, a new baby quilt in the making.

I brought a CD of the slides my Mom had taken over the years that I've been scanning and we giggled and laughed over them as my three sisters remembered this or that picture, where it was taken and when. A treasure for sure.

We viewed the DVD my nephew put together of the past and present to play during our family reunion. We auditioned music to put to the slide show and couldn't decide on a thing.

We stuffed ourselves on clam chowder, salad, chips, hot crab dip and rhubarb bars that were positively decadent, keeping an eye on the flag flying in the wind, hoping it would set down as the tide came in.

At dusk, we bundled up, piled in the old station wagon and down to the water we went. With a cloud cover and rain showers promised the sun didn't co-operate and slowly sunk beneath the horizon without a bit of color. The wind finally set down as dark arrived. With 2 new kayakers, one a none swimmer we weren't able to have our paddle even tho' the water we were going on wasn't very deep and could easily have stood up should any of us tip over.

As 3 am rolled around the wind out of our sails, eyelids heavy, we all went to our respective beds, leaving my sisters house trashed. The next morning we all staggered out at different times and were lounging around in our jammies, chatting over our morning coffee deciding on making bkfst when the phone rang. Holy smoke it was sister's DH, he was almost home from his weekend excursion and needed to be picked up in an hour. With a flurry of activity, the house got cleaned up, clothes were thrown on, cars packed and off we went on our merry way, a good time had by all, promising to "do this again".

Jazz Men

It's finally finished and ready to be delivered to our friend Sarah. It's been a long time in the making and a special thanks to Judy Laquidar of Patchwork Times for the pattern. While I normally don't use white on the binding I didn't have enough of the red or blue left and the music notes look better than I thought they would. I'm still not very good with my LA and haven't used panto's yet so wasn't able to do the quilting as I wanted with music notes spread overall. My holders are my youngest sister and her DH.

I'm so bad, I haven't updated my blog in ever so long. With John home it's hard to have puter time much less doing any sewing of any kind.

I did finish the Jewel Box for a friend. I'm finding as my years increase and my eyesight decreases as much as I love using black in a quilt it's going to be a thing of the past. My old eyes just aren't what they used to be. I love the bright colors of the batiks and think this one is so Maverik, no rhyme or reason but scattered just like the friend it's going to.

Some time ago I participated in Judy Laquirara's "Quilt for an Hour Leaf Seasons". I was looking for a pattern for a music themed quit and liked the leaf seasons but couldn't see the quilt with the leaves. Looking through the patterns she's posted I found "Through the Grapevine" downloadable here

http://www.patchworktimes.com/eq-projects-to-share/

and knew this would be the one. It's a great pattern. I have one border to add and then I can put it on the frame.

Our raffle quilt for our family reunion is finally put together. I'm hand quilting it this year as it begs for it. My goal is a block a day and so far I've kept up. Today I took a the day off and sat back to read a book. I've never been one to use a thimble instead using fingernail. After a bit it gets sore and I have to take a day off.

My sisters and I have started a BOM, The 12 Days of Christmas with hopes of having it done to hang during the holidays. Now that the Raffle Quilt is together we needed a new project. We have enjoyed our once a month get together to chat and stay in touch. We all came prepared loaded down with stuff from our stashes to share and chose the easiest block to start, the 11th day of horns. I'm sure that each and everyone of us will have a different blocks when finished. This one was done by our Mother and one of our sisters was the lucky one to recieve it as a gift one year.

Fire has hit close to home. One of my grandsons set a pizza box on the stove and it caught fire. Thinking it was out he put it on the back porch in the trash. It errupted into flames and their rental house was destroyed. They lost everything. Help for them has appeared like magic with furniture and a fund set up to help get them back on their feet.

I leave you with my cats who think this stove is the cat's meow. Even when it doesn't have a fire going they take up residence in front of it.

Gratitudes

My son and his family are okey after the fire.

My sisters who are my quilting buddies.

The sunshine today so I could restack wood.

Snowed In

I've been snow bound here in my "little cabin in the woods " for 11 days now and no end in sight. This is the most snow we've had in many years and I wish it would go away. We're going to have a White Christmas that's for sure. John (DH) has been calling for weather reports daily as he is due to come home Christmas Day for his two months off the ship. He's in Portland where they too are having record snowfall while his big 4WD truck sits here at home in the driveway. On the way home his last visit the starter went out, it rained buckets and he couldn't get it fixed. It's now ready for this winter driving via a tow to the local Ford Dealer.

I'm surviving thanks to my brother who delivered a care pkg of M & M's, (Marlboro and Miller) and picked up the quilt my sister had me quilt. Another care pkg arrived via my Bil and sis of coffee, kitty food and a few other supplies as they needed to pick up yet another quilt I had quilted for her. Both Xmas presents for her Son and GS. Aren't family great. Its not that I'm afraid to drive in this weather, it's the other drivers on the road up here on the side of a mountain that worry me.

While being cooped up I finally finished handquilting this top. It's a kit quilt from years gone by and was completely embroidered when I found it in my MIL's attic. It's all washed up and ready to put on my bed come spring.

this is my first attempt at doing a large quilt. It's not fancy just big meander with curly cues in the red center blocks. I'm still in the learning process but with several more tops in the wings will have good practice.

As the year comes to an end we all think of our goals for the coming year. This year I hope to complete all my goals while not making big unrealistic demands on myself. Last year my goal was to finish all my UFO's which I never accomplished as life took on a life of its own. Instead I did a lot of cleaning out and getting rid of those I no longer wanted to do.

My goals for 2009:

Organize my sewing room to be more user friendly and clutter free.

Machine 7 of the 8 tops I have in a tote.

Hand quilt an antique wedding ring top.

Only start one new quilt for a friend.

Use up my stash for backings.

A fabric Diet only batting.

If I manage these then I can always add something else. I want to have a feeling of accomplishment as next year comes to an end rather than feeling there were way to many things left to do.

I'm thankful for:

Family that makes sure I'm taken care of when DH is on the ship.

For care pkgs during this snow storm.

All the wonderful friends I've met over the net.

Having electricity, so many have been without in this cold weather.

My wood stove that keeps me warm and toasty.

Another month and more has passed since I updated my blog. I just haven't been feeling like blogging. Don't know what's the matter with me these days. This past year has been so long for me with so many family and friends passing away. Just recently my youngest son's half brother commited suicide. He was only 43. It's so heart breaking to know he was so troubled he took his own life. He didn't leave a wife or children to mourn but he left siblings, nieces and nephews who will miss him.





My sisters and I finally finished Mom's Duds quilts and are passing them out this coming Sunday. We were rather naughty and called our out of town siblings and told them they had one more gift coming from our Mom. Only one asked what it was and we just said "you'll have to come collect it to find out" so all of them will be there to get their gift along with the remaining settlement from the estate. It will be a nice get together before Xmas for a bit of catching up with all of us.










The past few days have been spent finishing up with blocks to do a jewel box for a friend of ours. I still have a small border to add then it will be complete and ready to quilt. I hope to get the border on tomorrow, do up a backing and be ready to quilt it soon. I'm calling this one "scattered" as it started out controlled but ended up every bit as scattered as the girl it is going to.














My youngest sister has recently caught the quilting bug. All us sisters shared the quilt blocks our Mother had made and never assembled. Her first attempt at squaring off, laying out and assembling is quite the maverick. She's using her blocks to make quilts for her children and grandkids for Xmas so they will have a quilt from their grandma. She's very talented in every way. Ask her to lay a floor, climb up on the roof, fix a car, she can do all those things. I laugh when she tells me I have no business up on the roof. What, she thinks I'm old and feeble, but yes, balance is not my strong point and I certaily would fall off the roof were I to get up there.






I've learned a very valuable lesson recently. Having some "fire retardant" gloves I loaded the wood stove for the night. Laid the gloves next to the stove and promptly went off to bed. Very shortly I smelled smoke and got up to see what was going on. Walked into the living room to a cloud of smoke hanging near the ceiling, flames shooting from those gloves and the wood trim on the slab scorched . Grabbed up those gloves and into the sink they went. Opened all the doors and on went every fan in the house. Realizing I could have burned the house down I had a very hard time falling asleep that night.


Gratitude
Sisters to share quilting nights with.

Happy Birthday to Me

It's not a Long Arm but it's mine and I love having it. I've been wanting a quilting set up for a long time and after looking around decided one of those table top outfits just wasn't what I wanted. My sister has one and even she dislikes it. Then one day surfing around Craig's List I stumbled onto this advertized. Just three years old, the price was right and just what I wanted. It's the closest to a LA as I could get, extends out 120" altho' with my limited space I've got it down to 5 feet. It's going to take a lot of practice to do all those fancy motifs but I'm learning. My first practice is on the frame and when it's done I'm sure my fur balls will love having another quilt to stretch out on. They won't mind a bit what it looks like.

3 down and 4 to go.

My sisters and I have been busy. We decided we didn't want to see someone walking down the street wearing our mom's duds and are making each of our siblings as well as ourselves a memory quilt from her clothes. It's been a good thing, we've cut and laughed, remembered dressing mom is this or that suit, remembered the ones she really liked and the ones that didn't get worn very often. We've had a fun time while putting these together reminiscing about our Mom laughter where there could have been tears. We thought they would be ugly but they've turned out kinda pretty. We're going to wrap them as a last gift from our Mom this Xmas. How fitting that the suits she made and kept her warm will now wrap her children.

I love my wood stove and so does Lady.

Summers End

I can't believe the summer has come and gone. Seems I just blinked my eyes and winter rains are upon us already.

This summer has been a busy one with little or no sewing involved. We finally got our Mother's estate all settled and formed a Limited Liability Company as a real estate investment. With real estate being in the dumps, selling the property left to us would not be a very good idea at this time. So with that in mind we sent out an invite to all the heirs to meet us for a weekend potluck work party to clean up, haul junk to dump, fix fencing, trim trees and paint the mobile home.

The day dawned bright and sunny, 9 of the 12 heirs showed up dressed in their work clothes ready to man lawn mowers, weed wackers, power washers, chain saws and paint brushes. With clipboard in hand I assigned jobs as everyone grabbed up their tools and off they went. Armed with No Tresspassing/No Dumping signs the fence got repaired, the signs hung. 4 weed wackers buzzed, garbage/junk left for the dump and chain saws made short work of the to-do list. By the end of the day all were tired but very satisfied with what we had accomplished and only the mobile home needed a bit more washing before painting.

The next day those of us who had no other plans assembled again to finish up the mobile home. My brother borrowed a paint sprayer and made what would have taken several hours a short job. By the end of the day, having run out of paint we decided we could quit and finish what little bit of painting needed done on Monday while everyone else was at work. Not so. After a huge lunch of Chinese, temps in the high 70's we felt more like a nap than finishing the trim paint. vbg Now the rains have started and we'll have to wait for a sunny day.

Many thanks go to:

All heirs who showed up and worked their butts off and made this work party a sucess.

My SIL, Biena, My BIL, Roger and nephew Kyle.

Memorial Day

Until this year Memorial Day has always been another holiday to me. Yesterday two of my sisters and I gathered together some gardening tools, a bucket of flowers from their gardens and off to the cemetary we went. I've never gone back to the cemetary after the death of one of my family, but this year I did. My other sisters always went, cleaned up the markers, left flowers and in past years took our Mom with them.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shining over the long rows of flags the VFW had erected along the roads in the cemetary. We arrived with our gear to find someone had already been there ahead of us to decorate our parents, our aunt and uncles graves. We called another sister to find out if she had been there ahead of us and yes, she always came each year and this year was no different. We trimmed and washed the markers then went around to other family members graves and continued with trimming and setting out flowers. When we were finished we still had flowers left and placed them on graves that looked forlorn.

Memorial Day will never be the same for me again, thought only of as another holiday but as a day of rememberance for those who have gone before us and those brave soldiers who have given their lives so we may continue to live in freedom.

In the past year our family has come together, more so since we lost our Mom when before we saw each other once a year at our annual family picnic. I've come to appreciate my brothers and sisters not for who I think they should be but for who they are.

A Very Special Quilt

Our family raffle quilt top for this year is finished. It's now at my sister's home for her to quilt on her LA. While there's nothing really special about the pattern or fabrics as it was a kit, the very fact that it is the very last quilt my Mom had her hands on makes it one very special quilt. In the past my sisters and I have never added our names to the drawing although we've always bought tickets for our children and grandchildren. This year we sisters are buying tickets for ourselves as well with high hopes of winning this quilt.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day the first of many to be spent without my Mom. My sis and I went to the cemetary to clean up the funeral flowers, leave a boquet of lilacs for Mom to enjoy and also made up boquets for our sister, her baby, my auntie and my BIL's granny from the best of the left over flowers. It was a peaceful day for us. I'm not a person that does cemetary visits but this year it seemed a good thing.

I've been spending my time scanning slides, boxes of them my Mom had taken over the years. It sure brings back fond memories as I scan pictures of me and my youngest sister. We have a special bond the two of us. Don't know what it is but Mom always said she was just like "Dona" and the next words out of her mouth were "I'll send you where they have a barbed wire fence and can keep you in". Funny thing, our farm was fenced in and that barbed wire never kept her in. Mom always used to threaten me with "I'll send you to the convent in Seattle where they have brick walls". It's been fun to look once again into the past and see my Gramma, my parents when they were in the prime of their life and us kids were all way younger. It's given me an idea for our Family Picnic this year....a picture board of "Back Then and This is Now".

I haven't had much time for sewing this past month or two but tomorrow my sis and I are finally going to add the last border to our Family Raffle Quilt and get the backing all ready so another of my sisters can quilt it. This year I'm going to add my name to the tickets as it's the very last quilt my Mom touched and will be special. I usually don't put my name in and buy tickets for all my kids and grandkids instead. We sisters have decided we should get together once a month for our own little quilting group. There's four us us living close and if we add our brother's wife and one of our nieces we'll have a nice little group. We so enjoyed the few times we all got together to work on the raffle quilt at Mom's apt.

This week is the last of the things one has to do to settle a loved one's estate. We see her Attorney on Thursday to see how to notify the rest of the siblings and one Granddaughter who is remembered in Mom's will. On Sunday we siblings will all get together and settle Mom's personal possessions. It will be a sad occasion for us all.

Gratitudes

For all my blogger friends who left comments on my post about MOM

My Mom

My beautiful Mother passed away on April 25th surrounded by her children.

My Mom was the sweetest, kindest, loving woman I know. I never saw her without a smile. She wasn't very demonstrative but we all knew we were loved. I never heard her utter a bad word about anyone and if we did she would frown. She never missed a Mass, getting there in the rain or snow. In later years she would make it to church coming in with her walker. In the past year when she was confined to a wheel chair my youngest sister and I took her to Mass on Sundays. When we arrived late on Easter her parish priest stopped in the middle of his sermon to welcome her. She touched everyone she knew in one way or another.

She was always "put together", had a matching suit of clothes on, a pin on her lapel and a handkerchief in her pocket. In later years when her eye sight became so bad my sister and I would do her clothes before we took her to mass.

She was a superiour cook and while I never learned to plan and cook a meal while I was a young girl, she taught me to make the best cinamon rolls which become my Saturday job while my older sister cleaned the bathroom. I can still bake a first class apple pie, my turkey's are stuffed to this day with her dressing and I don't make cinamon rolls any longer.

She was a knitter and taught me to knit. I could never master 4 needles making sox or mittens. My stitches were always twisted, but I learned how to knit sweaters.

She crocheted. Her doilies graced every table in the house. I learned how to crochet from her and made my own doilies. She left behind a suitcase full.

She was an exceptional artist. Her paintings won ribbons at the county fair, hung in her credit union and grace most of our homes.

She was a seamstress and made all her own clothing right down to her drawers. My 3 younger sisters all wore "home made panties". My youngest sister's biggest wish growing up was to have a pair with a label from a store in them. I can laugh at them, I always had "store bought" undies.

I never saw my Mom without a needle in her hand stitching away on a quilt. Her hands were always busy. As her eye sight failed she could no longer quilt or do any of her other crafts. She would reach out feeling her blocks and ask if this block was finished. I started quilting when I moved home after being gone for many years to spend time with her. She was always gone doing one thing or another and her quilting group was the only place I knew where to find her. She made and donated many quilts to raffle for good causes. She took blocks donated to her quilting group and stitched them together into quilts for donations.

There wasn't a craft my Mom didn't master. She always said she did a craft until she got it down pat and then moved on to a new one.

My Mom was a doer. When she wanted to move, Dad said sell the house. She put a for sale sign up and sold the house in Minnesota. We moved to Washington. When Dad was remodeling the farm house here, she asked when he was going to remove a wall. He said if you want it down take it down and she did. She got a crowbar and the wall was down when Dad returned from work.

Her sense of humor never failed her. She could and did whip out one liners even in her last days. When her medications caused her nose to drip and she would forget to wipe it, I'd ask where her handkerchief was, her nose was dripping. She'd look at us and say "see girls this is what you have to look forward to". My sister always called her the "princess and the pea". She didn't like wrinkles and even when her eye sight was failing she would reach out as she was going to bed and smooth her sheets. In her last days at the hospital she would say she was sitting on a lump and would laugh when we said she must be getting pleats in her bum.

She grew up in the depression and when my father passed away she never spent on herself. She had her trailer, the farm was paid for, she needed to save for when she could no longer live by herself. When we asked why she didn't move to an apartment she always said why she should pay to live somewhere when her trailer and the farm was paid for. She watched her sister go through every penny her husband had left her and spend her remaing days in a nursing home. Mom wasn't going to end up there. She spent her remaining days in her own bed at the Assisted Living. She grew up in the era you saved to leave something behind for your children and she did. She made sure the farm was intact and we had an inheritance. She always had everything she wanted. A very independant woman.

Our parents raised us with good values. We all learned you worked for what you got. You stayed out of trouble or you had to suffer the consequences. All 8 of us turned out okey, stayed out of trouble, grew up and went on to be decent folk.

I'll miss my Mom. We were never very close but she always chose to come stay at my home when she was released from one hospital stay or another. I loved my Mom and never knew how to let her know how much. I'll miss my Sundays taking her to church.

Gratitudes

For a loving Mom who is watching over me now

My sewing room is finished and now the big job of sorting out and de-clutter all the stuff that came out of there has begun. I've spent the better parts of three days going through stuff, sorting to sell, give away and just plain throw out to the trash. It's amazing how much one piles behind closed doors, under tables, hidden in cupboards/closets. Things you haven't seen in years, have no idea why you have it and probably wouldn't use it anyway. So far I've culled almost 50 quilting books, blocks, patterns, emptied 2 totes and listed a bunch of antique sewing machine related items that don't even belong to any of the machines I have. I've found things I can use, like a plaid matching foot that is nothing more than a short shank walking foot with a fancy name and will fit my old black Singers.

Along with the sewing room makeover, the whole inside of the house is getting a face lift of sorts. We're installing a wood stove, propane prices have rizen so high it's more cost efficient to heat with wood. We picked out a "green energy" stove, have an install date so it's shift furniture time. My desk top puter goes to the new sewing room, all the furniture from the living/dining room moves to the den, the den furniture to the living room, the dining table to the kitchen and my huge roll top desk will live in what was the dining making a nice little office area. It's going to be nice to have all new arrangements. This furniture has sat in the same spots for 16years and it's time for a change. vbg

I joined a roundrobbin group some time ago and signed up to participate in the current RR's. One is an Add-a-Block with embelishments. I've never really embelished anything so for me this is way outside my comfort zone. The hummer is my starter block for this exchange. As the mail date arrived before I was finished I was able to send it on to the next person and will be able to add beads and what nots when it arrives home in the fall. It will make a nice wall hanging for my sewing room.

The second exchange is a Row Robin. Another first for me. I tried out a new to me technique, machine applique. I think I spent as much time cleaning the fusable webbing off the iron as I did stitching arund those teddy bears. I don't know if I will ever do it again, trying to get around all those curves with a satin stitch boggled my mind, but it was fun and now I can say "I've tried it out". I really liked these little teddy bears and thought they would make an fun quilt for my gr-gson Elias to snuggle up to.