Memorial Day -- Twenty Ten

First and foremost--- Happy Memorial Day… someone asked what the holiday meant to me----My immediate response was thankfulness to those kids who lost fathers in wars so that my kids did not lose their father. Such a healthy price for the freedoms we so many times take for granted.


My absence from posting is marked with busyness. Never a risk taker when it comes to planting flowers, I always stuck with the old reliables---marigolds, petunias, impatients. This time last year I never thought I’d plant flowers again much less have the money to buy them. I guess I’m living proof life goes on. This year after much research I opted for new kinds of flowers in my shaded flower bed in the front of the house. The house faces north. Being trim with tons of birch trees also means very little direct sun throughout the day. Here’s what I planted

 and here’s the finished product.

I received blueberry bushes for mother’s day so I planted them in my garden. It takes roughly two years for them to produce fruit, so I’m holding onto the fact that the U.P. will be my home for a while. There won’t be tons of berries--- I just think it would be fun to grab a handful here or there for pancakes.

The garden is planted and I have an official pumpkin patch this year. The seeds have sprouted. Since I really don’t have the garden for food survival (my husband says, ‘Thank God’)—I gave the sunniest spot to the pumpkins because they are my favorites. Don asked why I didn’t give it to the tomato or cucumbers or beans—something we actually eat---I gave this very convincing story about rotating my crops (he raised one eyebrow, “crops, huh?”), I caved under pressure and told him the truth—that I just liked the pumpkins best…He just laughs. He set up really awesome sprinklers to help with the watering this summer. We’ve been under a severe drought warning. We got our first thunderstorm of the season last night.

Quilting---I’ve found a new love—quilting with wool…I’ll write about it tomorrow. Take Care. Enjoy the holiday with those you love.

Sunday Thoughts

Happy Mother’s Day  a little late– . Both my kids are came home yesterday—weather prermitted it… we were expecting 3 to 5 inches of heavy wet snow and got about 2 1/2 inches of the heavy white stuff. I knew there was a reason I hadn’t planted anything yet. We had a Southern home cooked meal, cooked as a family-- fried chicken, corn on the cob, green beans, french fries and pecan pie. No dates... no friends....just Don, the kids and I.  Sounds selfish..but it was really nice.



I’m blessed to have my Mom still with me. Though she’s 1200 miles away, we chat almost daily. When they used to travel to visit, I was always nervous for them to see my family or my home. My folks never judged. But she was always, in my mind, the world’s best mom – a tough notch to reach. I realize now—maybe not then—that I’m the judging one, not her. She sewed for me, taught me to sew, took me to Dance lessons, piano practice and church. She cried with me over boyfriend breakups and covered for me when I cut school—and tore me up later….. She’s a wonderful lady.

I have a baby shower to attend next saturday. So I have been working on a baby quilt from the schnibbles book. I've had almost nine months to make this piece and I'm waiting to the last minute to get it together-- literally. I can rationalize anything, but I should have worked on it sooner. I'm more of a traditional girl, but the family is going with peacock murals and teal painted ceilings..

I picked out the bright Moda Line called Birdie. the jury is still out on whether I like it our not. We'll keep you posted.

I had a date with cleaning out the jeep.  It's still got the "Winter Blues" but after yesterday  ready for spring.

There's nothing like sunshine at 6 am to get your morning started right.

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother’s day . Thanks for being a parent through the rocky times. It’s easy to parent when things are rosey. You earn your stripes as a mother when you stick out the rough times. I hope every one was Queen for day.

Tuesday Morning --- Early

When you get up and 4 a.m. and don’t go to work until 7 a.m.--- it’s AMAZING the stuff you can get done. Only problem is I’ll probably be hungry for lunch at 9 a.m..


Don left for work early, so the pups and I got up for a quick cinnamon toast breakfast—dog food for them—and machine quilted for an hour before work this morning. I love doing it. If I get five or six bobbins threaded I can got to town. It’s just getting down there, getting the music turned on and getting the machine purring.

I’m motivated to get this piece off the frame as I have a baby shower the 15th and want to give a baby quilt. A friend sent a gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop and I ordered this book.

 It’s been in my lap every night when I watch television and I’ve toted it to work every day. The quilts are beautiful and I love the different fabric choices and sizes. It’s a great read for anyone. It’s full of personality and thoughts from the designer. No layer cakes or charm packs needed. You can make your own from your stash.



Dorky Parent Moment – You want your kids to do right. A Mother goes through life hoping they are teaching the good from the bad and that kids are making the right choices. I even resort to subliminal teaching. By every faucet in our house I have books with scriptures, clichés, and famous quotes teaching right from wrong. I always justified it as a two-minute opportunity to program the kids while they brush their teeth or wash their hands…. Yeah I’m a dork…I have one set with verses and quilt sayings… Here’s tomorrows post.

"Old quilts are true family treasures because of all the love they convey

 and all the treasured memories they hold..." Roy Lessin

I like the thought of that……

Even a Florist needs Flowers….

That’s what the writing said on the back of the postcards I made for my Mom and a friend. My friend is on the homestretch for a stuff chemo battle. And I think she’s winning. She has the most beautiful green house and floral shop… I mailed them yesterday. What to you give a florist? They have all the flowers they need… the postcard seem right. They measure 6 x 8 inches and it only took a 44 cent stamp for each.

The pattern for the tulip came from A legacy of stitches. Cute design.

I’ve finally finished painting for Chelsey’s apartment. The second set of mismatched chairs I painted ‘ballet slipper pink. I thought of Stina every time I opened the can. She loves pink. At first when we saw the two chairs at the Habitat Restore, Chelsey didn’t like them. I told her she had to have a vision. I brought them home and primed and painted them. Now they are her favorites---One of the days she going to have to trust me on things…..



Here’s a photo of her little dining room. You can see the pinwheel quilt in the background. It was going to be my summer quilt, but she needed it more. I sent a cup hook with the quilt. I sewed a three-inch strap on the back and told her if she didn’t have it on the table she could drape it on the wall. It looks sweet up there.

I kind of makes me feel good that my kid is hanging quilts on the wall…. Just like her Mom.



Gratitudes:

Don coming home tonight

Opened Windows and Doors – Spring is here

Ransom at my feet—who needs socks to keep your feet warm?!?

My Weekend....

My weekend just wasn’t long enough. But I guess you worry about people say, ”Gee, I wish the weekend would hurry up and end…..” I’ve been working on my punchneedle project. It’s almost complete. Pictures coming soon.

Projects for the weekend…I’m always seeing those mismatched placemats. There’s got to be something to make with them. So I found a $2.00 bargin and made a case to keep my punch needle stuff in. I like it.

Don gave my sewing machine really well. It needed it badly. I was a nervous wreck while he worked on it, but I wouldn’t have trusted to anyone else. She’s back in service, purring like a kitten.

My birthday presents…I bought these mugs for myself. I love the birds. I got a set of four on sale.

My sister in law gave my quilt money and I purchased Summer Gatherings. There are several small projects in the book. I have no stash of wool fabrics..they’re pricey and I’ve been hesitant to commit. But I’m in love with the ease of them. I’m even kicking around taking a class to learn all the tricks using them. I got a small bag of scraps. Here’s hoping they’ll be used for pin cushions, journal covers, postcards, and a table runner or two. Honestly, I could just stack and fold and restack them and have fun doing it.

The skies have been beautiful, but the winds have been howling. Today things settled down and I worked on a project for Chelsey after church. She purchased a table and four chairs for $40.00. I finished the table—forgot to snap a photo. But I did get one of the mismatched chairs done. Should have gotten a before picture. Don added a couple of staples and a little wood glue. I found the fabric at Walmart – the only place in town to find any fabric at all. I think it turned out pretty darn cute….

My First Class...

It’s what got me through the winter. Back in November a friend and I scheduled a Punchneedle class at Primitive Gatherings in Menasha WI. It’s something we’d always wanted to learn to do and I had never taken any kind of sewing class so it was an opportunity to try something new.

On the day of the class we left early and stopped at a couple of shops on the way down. I kept remembering to pace myself because our destination was ..Primitive Gatherings. We arrived about 3 pm. We had the shop to ourselves so my friend and I thrived on being the center of attention. When we had signed up for the class they had put hoops, needles, and threaders aside for us. For the class, we could pick any needle punch design they had in stock. There must have been 30 samples to pick from. I picked the Blue canning jar. Tired of snowmen and pumpkins by February, I knew it was the right choice.

We literally knew NOTHING about needlepunch. The ladies talked to us about which patterns were easy and which were a little more challenging. There were three types of embroidery threads and we learned about each. Keep this in my this was like the “free’ class before the class.

We scooted out for a quick bite of supper and returned ten minutes before the class started There were six other ladies in the class. Everyone had a different project, so it made things really interesting.



Lisa Bongean, shop owner taught the class. She’s nothing like I thought she would be. But the real deal is even better. An Artist is the first thing that comes to mind. I tried to be quiet and poised… but about thirty minutes into the class I broke out like a TV reporter on a request for the evening news. She told us how she started. We learned how important family was to her. She has two sons and a husband that believe in her business, along with a houseful of uncles, brothers, nieces, nephews, and cousins that all help. Perfection was never a word in her vocabulary. She even talked about how lack of perfection in Primitive crafts is what gives it its charm.



She told us of her travels and the seminars she does --- and all I kept thinking was…” Wow, and I’m getting all of this for $15.00…” We learned what is involved when she creates a pattern. She let us try different kinds of hoops with our projects. She talked to us about forgiving ourselves when you make a mistake. She even talked to us about different ways to use punchneedle projects.



I have to get busy on my project now.



When the class was over she even walked us to our vehicle. It was a chilly 19 degrees that evening and she said we should have let her known how far we were coming from…. We could have stay with her. Yep, she was inviting complete strangers to stay at her home, saying she has empty rooms with her sons grown up now.





We had traveled the farthest so we got first pick at a drawing of free punch needle patterns… I couldn’t help myself… It’s probably an addiction – I picked the crow on a pumpkin piece :)

I'm Blushing Quilt

Not posting as often as I should, Busy living I guess. It’s like every quilt catalog and every quilt magazine I see something that Chelsey needs. It’s fun. It’s a chance at playing with fabrics and styles I don’t normally get to sew with. I believe it’s one of the reasons God gave me Chelsey.

Here’s the piece I just completed. I’ve never made anything with a jelly roll. I used a gift certificate and purchased the fabric line Blush on a jelly roll. I used muslin as the alternating fabric. I pieced the ’I’m Blushing’ quilt from the Moda Bake Shop line of free patterns. The instructions and photos made it easy.

My needle turn applique skills are not the best in the world. I wanted this piece to withstand years of machine washings and along with tugs and hugs from popcorn, movies, and late night study sessions. I tried a new way of stitching the applique. I used dryer sheets as a backing and stitched and flipped the pieces. It made the applique a breeze.

Maybe it’ll be on the quilting frame by this weekend.




OK---- when your son walks in wearing this:

What do you say??????? He got it at a relay for life event he worked at and raised $300.00 for the cause….I was just--- well a lot---surprised. But the shirt is eye catching and makes a point.. I think????



Kids…..

I cleaned up my garden for spring planting. I just let if fall by the wayside last fall, deeming that it would be someone else’s garden this spring. It looks like it’s still my garden. I really love that garden – weeds and all. It was a lot easier to rid the dead plants after a winter of rotting. It seemed like the Good Lord was just checking to see if I was willing to give it all up ---only to say, “Nahhhh, you don’t have to…”

I’ve got tulips, chives, oregano, and lavender coming up….. just another sign life goes on……

My Luck is Changing...

My Grandmother all told me, “If you need to change your luck playing cards… stand up and walk around your chair. Then sit back down. Your luck is about to change…”

I don’t know that the chair strategy necessarily works, but things have been pretty good lately. I won Bonnie’s drawing for treats right around my birthday. There are great fabrics for surprises for my daughter. She omitted the pattern book and emailed apologizing.

I was so thrilled with the bag, pen, and fabrics I hadn’t noticed, so getting mail this week made the gift last that much longer.

Saturday I received this pattern set from Melissa who was doing her spring cleaning getting ready for a move. I spent the afternoon on Saturday with my coffee studying each pattern like they were novels. I have some of them—I guess we like the same things—so in keeping in the spirit of giving. My favorite is on top. I’m going through my cabinet and will set up some to pass on next week.

I drove downstate to Eric’s ‘White Coat’ ceremony for Pharmacy school last weekend. Chelsey is moving into her own apartment—no roommates. She came and got her brass bed out of her room. It kind of left me with a lump in my throat. I guess I always knew the kids would move out. They have sort of moved out already. But it was one of those defining moments when you say---‘This is it’….

We’ve had a couple of hammock days (judging by the photos). Temps reached 75 degrees today. Robins are everywhere.

Thanks again Bonnie and Melissa… your friendship is pretty important.

I’ve been quilting up a storm for Chelsey’s apartment. I used a gift certificate to get a Blush Jelly Roll. Here’s the pattern to use it on. Photos coming soon.

Gratitudes:

Bonnie

Melissa

That Hammock on the Covered Porch

Old Keys

One person’s trash…another’s treasure. This was what I found in an old Ziploc bag in my church mailbox. Old-keys…a valued commodity in my heart. In today’s world on push button combinations for pass keys and card scanners for door openers…they are becoming more and more scarce. I even love the old keyring attached. They remind me of my Mom…I can remember as a kid playing with her keys with a key ring just like those.

No quilting in this post because I’ve spent the past two evenings ripping out stitches on the project I’m working on. You know it happens. I get frustrated because I want to complete my quilt and begin another. But I step back and tell myself it’s a hobby. It’s supposed to be fun--- low stress. So with Ransom on one side and Bruno on the other and a seam ripper in my hand I work.

Spring is so close in the U.P. There are parts of Lower Michigan that have had more snow that we’ve had. I’m tired of snowmen, mittens, and anything brown and gray. My Mom always taught me the merits of cloth napkins. I could say I doing my part to take care of the environment, but I love them for the simple reason that they’re made of fabric --- having plaid ones is a perk. Chelsey has been trained well to hit the clearance table and scarf up the markdown napkins. Even the out of season ones… Because sooner or later – the season they fit will come around….

Gratitudes:
People have patience with me at work—learning new things
No cavities—the dreaded dentist appt
The warm puppy in my lap

Angels to watch over me.......

I’m still here. I’m older. I had a birthday last Monday. It was a special week. That’s right, in our house, they’re not just birthdays—they’re birth festivals…just to make them last longer. I was queen for the week.

In the mailbox, Darlene sent me a gift “just because”—it was perfect timing. These angels have to make you smile. With the tiniest of stitches, I have a tough time picking out my favorite. I’m just a little partial to the Angel with grapevine wings, but they are all beautiful.

Flowers were left on my doorstep by some close friends…The card, “Because you believe in happy endings…”
My family gave me dishes….I know it’s a sickness, but I’m completely in love with them, and food tastes better in them.

On the quilting front¬- I completed my bluebird wool project.

A week ago we went to Green Bay for the day. It was cloudy, windy, and wet. Might as well be in the stores. We came home at the end of the day and it was like someone had hauled off all the snow. It had vanished. It’s dirty and kind of lifeless outside. But the sun shining puts a brighter twist on it. It’s a rare year to have spring come so early in the year. We had a week of 50 to 68 degree temps. I’ve had some long work days, but I’ll take what I can get.
I better get to quilting. I’ve got a project on the frame.

Gratitudes:
Birth Festivals
Grilled Green Beans
Sunshine

Baskets of Life Completed

It got up in the upper 40’s today as predicted. I went out while it was still below freezing to the back part of our snow shoe trail. There’s been on old fallen pine tree there all winter begging for a quilt opt.

So with camera and clothes pins in tow, the pups and I went on a mission.

The photos do not show the details of the quilt well. It figures.

As I was sewing the blocks into one piece last night I realized that other than the last five blocks I’ve sewn since Christmas, I didn’t even remember the others. 2009 was a tough year and many parts of it seem kind of like a blur in time-- but I'm realizing everyone has times in their lives like this and hey-- at least I got a quilt out of the deal....

JoAnn Mulally did a great job in designing the piece. The Country loft did an excellent job in packaging it with beautiful fabrics and the instructions were like receiving a gift every month.


I’ve done two of her block of the month pieces. I did not sign up this year. It’s a snowman quilt--- I’ve got too many of the real thing and just didn’t want 12 months of them. But I still recommend it to others, It’s a darling quilt.

Close ups show more detail. Where her Seasons BOM was mostly browns, this quilt has brighter colors with wool stars sprinkled throughout.

I have one quilt on the frame now, but it won’t be long till this one is quilted. I can’t wait to use it.

Gratitudes:
Hot Water Heater
My daughter dating a nice guy (for the moment)
Phone call from Florida – Needed prayers are always a blessing

Basket Blocks

If the quilt blocks really grew on trees….. I have to work late tonight, so I opted for sleeping in and traipsing through the snow for some photos.

These are the last of the Basket blocks for the Baskets of Life BOM. I got behind (life happens).

So after Christmas I drew out all six blocks and got busy. I counted myself complete when I finished the stitching, but there’s still lots of work sewing on the borders.

This one is my favorite.

I’ve been sewing almost 30 minutes a day.

I have this mindset that sooner or later Don’s going to get a job and I need to have this stuff completed.

But there’s always one more quilt to make.
Here are photos of my assistants in to snow. Nothing slows them down….

Working late, there probably won’t be time for fun tonight.

Kids are doing well. Life is good.