not going to start another project....said no quilter ever! fondling my liberty fabrics and auditioned for a background and found these 2 pieces, probably each FQ size...
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humid holiday weekend and the to-do list is made and ready.....a/c on already
on the sewing front, it's still s'mores...plodding along with the quilting, sometimes so difficult these days to sit and relax, only momentary escapes from the overwhelming sadness that suffocates me...
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finally a good day with sunshine late in day after dreary, gray start...low 80s and sunny tomorrow....just perfect! today was ideal for advancing various projects.
the 2nd wheelchair top is done....the charm squares were a long ago senior center donation and found them in a drawer, realizing they were perfect for this project. all gone now!
some basting got done....
more quilting on s'mores...should definitely be a june finish...
another UFO unearthed and basted...can i get this one done in june as well? stay tuned...
dear daughter ferried me to grocery and got some fresh flounder and fresh shrimp, so a couple of seafood meals for a change. doing some at-home exercises, nowhere near the level i get at the gym but better than none...so i really AM a reformed couch potato!
and it really works! shopping the stash and not buying really does reduce the piles on the shelf. noticed this morning when re-shelving some pieces i'd been working with...a great way to start a monday!
the daily to-do list is hefty but needed to keep me busy; not all get done but leaves little free time to cry. so what have i been doing?
the wheelchair quilts....one top is done, the other almost. the panels are from the senior center and other fabrics from my stash. should both be done by next friday and off my conscience! the blue border fabric on this one was gifted by a dear friend and there's enough for the back...a solid navy binding should finish it off nicely.
more blocks for blue album/chimney sweep got prepped...
and played around with the dargate baskets a bit, hoping to ramp up mojo to finish more...and just for a look see....should bust a lot of my repro neutrals. this will be bed size eventually....
while rummaging in the stash for the wheelchair quilts, found a piece i just knew would be perfect for some of my tiny 9-patch blocks. not all of them, but the plan was to make a few small pieces anyway. the inchie border was actually a gifted strip of 3" piano keys that got sliced and diced...only a few more inchies needed.
out of curiosity keeping empty spools this year and so far i have these; only one small was completely full, the rest only partial, but impressive anyway i think. the little basket is native Passamaquoddy, at least that's what mom told me.
have also been decluttering, an ongoing task of mine ramped up since emptying my mom's apartment. important papers got filed, the rest shredded; another bag for the thrift half full, a stack of old magazines also gone.
i posted my cats piece online to sell and many admired and inquired, a couple made plans to come and get it but nobody did. i have zero success selling my pieces in a variety of venues even though they are priced reasonably. i know i'm not a blue ribbon quilter but they are well made and pleasing color-wise. must be the general economy although it's always been the case for me...sigh.
car still out of commission. if mom were here, it would have been fixed as she never wanted me to be trapped--perhaps she has spoken to God for me? i do hope so...needing the gym for lots of good reasons. am fighting the overwhelming urge to pack a bag, lock the door and just wander....
in order to keep my mind occupied on mother's day, planned several tasks, most got done. vacuuming, homemade pizza and lots of sewing rounded out the day. finished this sew-along challenge piece:
juvenile delinq-cats ready for its new home, not sure yet where that will be.
this little mini also got finished, sick of looking at it on my design wall, plus i needed the space for what else? something new! i machine quilted this one. camera view has it looking lopsided but it isn't.
more blue album blocks were sewn and trimmed and some sashing added. i had toyed with the idea of blue cornerstones, but nahhh...this project is busting my muslin stash big time. seeing them all together like this really encourages me to make more...
and the sign of a true friend is this wee squishie of new-to-me kaffe fabrics...one i've seen but the others not....i'll be using them right away cutting leaves for my hearts and leaves wreath wall quilt.
so what's on tap this week? must assemble the wheelchair quilts for walter reed, to get the fabric off my sewing table. also cut more blue album blocks, begin assembling the blue lotus wall piece, quilt more on s'mores, maybe some cross stitch too and definitely the dargate baskets....ambitious list i know. the week has started on a high note with my 30 minutes of cardio...i try to get in 3 visits, total 90 minutes, which makes cardioman happy and boosts my mental outlook. so very thankful i was forced into it as it's made a big difference in my quality of life.
that would be me... notice i didn't say perfect? nope, plenty of mis-steps along the way but so proud of the woman my daughter has become. beautiful, smart, gifted, funny, inquisitive, compassionate, sensitive....wouldn't trade her for anything!
this is the card i sent to my mom last year. she loved forsythia blooming in the spring, not the neat, manicured type but branches that exploded with color and cascaded down to the ground. it gave her such joy, and i was delighted to find this card for her.
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she nearly always felt like being a mother was way above her pay grade, not ever having one herself. she made every effort to be the kind of mother she wished she had. i often told her she did that and more, but it never really squelched that deep down feeling of inadequacy. i am so thankful she is now released from that feeling of failure.
celebrating today? then you are truly blessed. far too many find today painful, full of grief, disappointment and unanswered prayer. this year i'm one of them, along with other family members. so please keep these people and me in mind, say a prayer that God would envelop us with His love and comfort.
this by deborah culver:
the design wall....
a yours truly plastic template dated 1979! that is the year i started quilting, 45 years ago...omigosh has it been that long? it would be sheer heaven if i had 45 more....
as if there weren't enough UFOs around, started this little piece. the pattern was a gift; my birthday is in august. somehow when i can't get motivated to sew, cross stitching seems give me an oomph
this should be a fairly quick finish and then into the duck it goes....or goose?
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my daughter made this in high school....it's filled with little stitchery projects on display....pretty clever of her i think...
and last but not least, if you see this charmer today, wish him happy birthday. it's brother #1; his is the 2nd sibling birthday of the year. lucky sis was the last to get a card from dear mom on march 1st....
now he looks more like his fellow felines....the space between the tail and body was the issue. a fussy fix but now done.
and during last friday's quilt group, got this basted....
all hand pieced, now to be hand quilted and made entirely from stash. that's a win/win/win in my book.
happy that some of my mojo has resurfaced as days are long and uneventful. i want to go someplace where there's no sadness but it doesn't exist. so i'll stay put and tough it out and wait for better days. they do come eventually so i'm told.
here is me, age 9, wearing a dress mom made for me. there was also a red plaid with a lace-trimmed peter pan collar, both using a borrowed machine. the year was 1958 and she didn't own a machine until 1961. today that machine is still running like new and used by me.
nearly 67 years ago mom sent me to 4-H to learn to sew. she was busy with a toddler and a new baby and hadn't the time. once a week after school, the bus dropped me off at mrs. bryant's house; my dad picked me up later. using the singer teaching materials, i learned machine basics and how to guide the needle. homework consisted of an unthreaded needle following lined diagrammed papers of concentric circles or squares. mom often said she never dreamed this would ignite the spark of a life-long passion.
fast forward in the blink of an eye, going back to the machine in my grief has provided a desperately needed peace, thanks to a couple of quilty peeps with their own kind of fire. there were tears but phoebe didn't mind, she just kept on at a soothing, comforting pace, so what did i sew?
