Requiem

with the passing of my last remaining paternal aunt on monday, my father's family of origin is now once again all together in heaven.  my grandmother, the pastry cook; my grandfather whom I never knew;  aunt dorothy, the sensible devout one; aunt lillian, the bossy can-do one; aunt madeline, the worry-wart energizer bunny; uncle ronald, the pampered one; my dad, the outgoing farmer at heart; aunt beverly, the compassionate and caring one....all now joined by aunt carol, the baby and self-absorbed one.  these are people with whom I spent most of my growing up years.  We were quite a gang at holiday dinners and beach outings.  From them I learned to embroider and knit, family secrets from long ago, corny jokes, met missionaries and talented musicians, spent time with their chickens and in their gardens.  peonies, sweet peas and hollyhocks will always remind me of my grandmother's favorites.  I was her designated donut shaker and donned a nurse's cap to bring her pills when she was sick.  my aunts would take me into the wild surf and pull me up high to jump icy waves.  special dresses were sewn for me by them. from them I learned to love piano music as two of them played.  it was inevitable, of course, that this would happen.  saying good-bye one by one tricked me into thinking it would never be so, but it is.  only photographs remain and the void, of course, that can never be filled. 

scrap attack for 2018

sarah is spearheading this 2018 challenge and although i am already committed to stash busting, attacking the scraps isn't far behind.  it does appear, though, that hers are more out of control than mine (or does it?) with the exception of "the basket" that has had to wait until i'm cleared for serious rotary cutting. 

and i do happen to have a scrappy DWR in the works as well.....

then there are those constantly reproducing selvedges i use for potholders, a project that got set aside earlier

and then there's this drawer full of inchies, 1.5" squares, that also multiply like rabbits no matter how many one uses......

and lastly this stack of precut scraps just waiting their turn to be used and escape their plastic prison....

so am i in with this challenge? it appears i have met the requirements....care to join in the fun?

onward to 2018!

Christmas is over...mine was very quiet with no big celebration for various reasons, so i began the new year purge. went thru desk drawers and tossed stuff, cleared away clutter from when i was recuperating, snacked for meals instead of cooking anything, put up the 2018 calendars, reorganized some of the sewing corner.  later this week can get reacquainted with vacuuming and mopping--not a moment too soon!

the start of a new year is always exciting to me, this year especially so.  with bypass boot camp ahead (also known as cardiac rehab), hoping to be 110% afterward--just in time for mid-atlantic spring days.  though there are ever-present financial challenges, still feeling totally blessed after this very long surgical siege.  every day feeling more and more like myself and doing more and more of my normal stuff.  many told me this would happen and even tho couldn't believe it some days, it's becoming a reality.  praying for God's continued watchful care today, tomorrow and every day ahead.  now back to UFO busting!

the tree and me...

wish everyone a Blessed Christmas!  Even though my unexpected surgery wiped out everything fun from Halloween on, made sure got my tree up and decorated.  though you can't see them, it has 4 long strings of pretty lights on it making it pretty festive. 

it'll be a different sort of Christmas celebration this year, but doesn't change the reason for the season.....and just for a chuckle....

There was an old man of Blue Hill
Who when church was quiet and still
At Christmas Eve mass
Liked to pass gas
Toward a candle, just for the thrill!

Remember, as Chuck Swindoll says..."don't sweat the small stuff and most everything IS small stuff"!

holiday finish

another UFO is escaping the 2018 list....this wallhanging of little baskets is done and ready to be gifted.  had purchased a FQ bundle of Margot Krager's Dargate Indigos and could never decide how to use them sooooo cut up the entire stack into these little applique baskets with the intention of making a large quilt, which is still on the planning list.  there were plenty to make this small piece for a quick finish.

with no real plans and iffy weather coming for Christmas, might possibly knock off one more UFO...have 2 small pieces that would like to see done before 2017 is history....but without my usual caffeine habit that could be an over-ambitious goal.  i really, REALLY miss my diet pepsi big time....

the forest thickens....

with the addition of more tree blocks....i am sooo liking the look of these so far and all from stash too!

it'll be a fun christmas quilt when done.  ***  whew, the calendar may say december but here in maryland the mercury has been hovering near 60 and 50 for the past week or so.  it has started to cool down some but definitely no white christmas.  this former new england gal has seen quite enough snow and i am loving the maryland winters a whole lot!   ***  gonna be a low key holiday here, but the real reason for the season can always be celebrated...

too early?

that would be to think about quilty goals for 2018...i don't think so!   there's a party going on over at jetgirl's blog with some super giveaways....one being the quilter's planner.   have ogled this for some time but simply cannot justify spending that much money on something that might not get used to its fullest...after all, i want to sew in my free time, not journal/write etc.  anyway, thought YOU might be interested so i'm doing this post to alert the quilty masses!  course i wouldn't turn down the other delish prizes like aurifil thread, patterns, mags etc.... as for my personal quilty goals, it's about the UFO list, the stash and just plain keep on doing what i've been doing....my "new normal" lifestyle requires regular exercise, but i'm betting there will be more energy that goes along with that, which means more time to sew/quilt/create than previously.  it's been a tough journey to this point with more work ahead that'll hopefully lead to more fun as well....a friend whose journey has been more challenging than mine always says we are not promised tomorrow and we aren't....but can enjoy THIS 24-hour slot with hope and fulfillment whatever we do...

crafts of christmas past

even though i started quilting nearly exclusively in 1979, prior to that i was a serial crafter.  each year when i unpack my ornaments, those years come wafting back to me in wonderful memories.  here is a sample of what's on my tree....

oh the hours this sampling represents!  felt and sequins and beads, oh my!  made lots of those.  the bandana ornaments were in a family circle mag eons ago.  the bell and blue were kits.  the cross-stitch ones came from a pattern--have made a ton of those and given many away.  then there was the year in ceramics...the angel, the stocking and the 3 wise men yet to be unpacked.   the pinwheels are more recent, as is the fabric star with sequins...that was a swap with the jo morton yahoo group (i made 2 of them...overachiever me)....the felt monogram mitten was just my idea using iron on alphabets.  and then there are these...

as a child, my daughter was fascinated with gumball machines and i found a kit with 2...and the butterfly was a freehand idea of mine for a niece.  we used to live near a yarn shop that carried a lot of these felt kits with sequins and beads.  she has an advent calendar--another kit--of a tree with 24 pockets each containing a little ornament for the tree...more sequins and beads....and a nice big star for the treetop.  she also has a nativity set done in crewel that came in several kits and finally got finished about 10 years ago.   now that i pretty much only quilt, my ornament days are mostly past.   luckily i get to revisit them every christmas...like most of you, no doubt.  give me any old tree--even the cheapo fake amazon i have now--but load it with lights and my ornaments and it'll always be christmas!

only 30 years or so

that's how long i've had this pattern and this quilt in the works...not that it's done yet, oh no, but i've gotten it this far....it was the applique that held me back and then i just decided to do it and if it wasn't perfect, then so what.

 

first saw this done at a show in new hampshire and bought the pattern.  i loved it then and love it still. next comes a narrow blue border, then wide muslin border with more appliques.  the fun is definitely in the process.  ***   and did manage one more tree block, a pear tree of course!

and remember my post about this?  my ikea bag and kitchen timer?  well, surprise surprise, they have

mystically re-appeared.  this has been going on since i moved in here.  somebody with a twisted sense of humor is playing cat and mouse, the invisible invader who comes into my apartment and takes inconsequential things and then returns them...things like stamps, like freezer container lids, like CDs, stuff out of my cupboard, polident tablets, a mitten, others i can't recall now and then the ikea bag and timer.  wonder if it's the same vile violator who followed me around massachusetts and stole 3 purses, tampered with my old cars, stole mortgage checks off my mailbox, a gold sand dollar necklace from a safety deposit box (plus the keys), utility and other bills from my mailbox, an amy grant CD out of my glove compartment...to name a few.  those items never found their way back--one was an especially nice leather purse from the thrift--but here at violator village they usually do.  maybe the perp thinks that redeems them....guess again.  it is never ok to violate my apartment and car whether or not things are taken and later returned.  i don't do it to anyone here and it shouldn't be done to me.  unfortunately that is life with infantile people of nearly zero integrity, not everyone here, but one is too many.  it just isn't right at all.

waiting.....

the other night during a brief period of energy, paired up most of my christmas stash for trees...and they are still waiting....

every morning have to take the new meds that nearly totally flatten me.  often i must nap and then feel draggy the rest of the day.  not complaining, mind you, as they keep (almost) everything moving and help my heart/body to heal, but for a person who was used to jumping out of bed eager for the day, it can be discouraging.  yes, have had a few small pity parties, but mostly feel thankful i've done so well in just 6 short weeks after such a grueling and brutal surgery.  whereas i often used to start  sewing right after breakfast, instead i take these meds (4) and then wait for the cannonball to hit.   i make a to-do list halfheartedly knowing it's a fool's errand.  any dedicated sewist would feel the same, i'm sure.  my previously go-to caffeine hit has been banished, so it's cold turkey with just juice and water....very poor substitutes!  plus it's another 3 meds in the evening, so it's often a double whammy.  many tell me one day i will feel absolutely terrific, much better than before the surgery, but it isn't today.  i know others might not be faring as well, for which i feel guilty and blessed...but betty is waiting and we need to play, not just to make trees but for my own mental comfort, way better than anything from a drugstore.....don't you agree?