Covered Porches and Wooden Screen Doors

Yesterday after work, Don and I were on the porch enjoying the weather. Don said, “Look in that old birch tree,” Below is what we saw. Keep in mind—the top half of the tree broke off in a winter storm, the bark is peeling, the tree has definitely seen better days. But to this robin – it’s a mansion.


I never said why I’ve started this web log. In our small town, there was a small quilt shop. It has traveled through a couple of owners, but it was quaint and charming. I always thought I loved it because of the ease of purchasing thread and fabric. It wasn’t until the shop closed (the owners needed more time with children at home) that I truly realized what I loved about the shop.

It was a place to go for inspiration. When I was having a bad day, it was the conversation with Artie (the owner) and a $2.00 fat quarter that changed the day from bad to good. Walmart just can’t do that. She knew you never loved your kids any less just because you were stressing for the moment. And she never held it against you when you failed as ‘Wonder-Mom’.

I show a completed project to my husband or my kids I get a ‘Nice, Dear’, or a ‘ Cool, Mom’. But when I would bring it to the quilt shop, I would get a chain of memories that the quilt sparked from others there.

Living so far from my own Mom (a.k.a. – the World’s greatest Seamstress), it was the girls at the shop who, many times, saved quilts from sewing disasters when I would get stumped.

So the shop closed and life went on. I was surfing the web looking for Rocking chairs for my porch when I stumbled across Joanne’s site ‘Rockin’ on the Porch’. It was then that I realized what I was missing. It’s the friendship, and inspiration from other quilters. I work forty-five hours a week. I’m a wife and Mom, and teach 15 4 year olds Sunday school. I have very little time for the investment of girlfriends, much less quilting at this point in my life. Free time varies around 5:00 am – 5:30 am, after 8:00 pm and a little on the weekends. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining. If I am, it’s only because there are not 36 hours in a day, instead of 24. I wouldn’t change anything except to do more in my day.

But life will slow down – change is the only thing you can count on – it would just be nice to chat with others going through the same thing. So I’ll keep this up and hopefully I’ll join the girls group and get back a piece of what is missing.

Let me get to work—