To my middle child

I posted nearly the exact same thing on April 5 of last year.  The only thing that has changed is that another year has gone by without him.  

To Connor Steven McCormick:
My middle child would be 21 today.  While I carried him inside me, his daddy picked his first name and I picked his middle name, after my mom's maiden name, Stevens.  He came into our lives for a few brief moments but quickly made the journey back to his heavenly home.  I had the privilege of knowing Connor for nine short months.  I knew when he slept, when he was awake, when he had hiccups, when he was stretching, and when he turned over.  I learned to tell the difference in an elbow and a heel as I was getting nudged in my ribs.  Sweet baby Connor --- would you have dark hair like your big brother or red hair like your little sister? Would you have your daddy's green eyes or your mommy's blue eyes?  Would you have played football?  What would you have chosen to do in college?  Would you have a girlfriend and would I love her also? 21 years later and the ache is still present.  I have two children with me but I am the mom of three.  Even with the pain, I am glad I was chosen to be your mommy.  Moments in our arms, forever in our hearts.  We love and miss you still………

Is it SPRING yet???

Spring is almost here --- 8 days away, but who is counting?  ME!!!!!!!!!  It has been a very long winter for various reasons, but I am sure mine has been no longer than anyone else's.  I am anxiously awaiting enough warmth to get some planting done.  I have lots of ideas for container gardening this year and am excited about getting started.  I did get a picture of my daffodils today …. almost there!    

 I am way behind on the quilting goals I set for myself at the first of January.  Oh well, what else is new?  I have had a ton of work, for which I am very grateful, and caring for my mother-in-law is a full time job in itself.  She is really losing ground and getting very feeble.  The Alzheimer's has really kicked in over the past three months.  She has forgotten how to do the most basic of her self-care needs.  I stand within arm's reach of her when she is in the shower and remind her to take the bar of soap and wash her body and take the shampoo and wash her hair.  She can still dress herself with minimal help, but that is about it.  There is no way she could even fix herself a sandwich.  We are going to take care of her as long as her safety does not become an issue.  Back to quilting --- I have managed to piece two table runners and have them laid out to try to quilt and bind one evening this week.  Here is the blue braid ...

The cat decided to jump in the second picture.  I bought this fabric several years ago and actually have had a friendship star quilt in mind for it, but I have been looking at pictures of this braid variant and decided to try it out.   As gorgeous as this blue is, it matches absolutely nothing in my house and may turn out to be a Christmas gift.  I did not have a pattern but it wasn't at all hard to figure out.  

The next one ..... this DOES match nearly everything in my house.  You may have heard me mention once or twice or even dozens of times that I LOVE Kansas Troubles fabric.  I have somehow managed to quilt for several years now without working with side-setting triangles or corner triangles.  Again, I did not have a pattern but it went together nicely.  I just took my time when working with the side triangles.  

One of the things I love dearly about Kansas Troubles is that nearly every line of fabric matches another line or three.  The side-setting triangles are Strawberry Jam, which I bought around 2006 or 2007.  The blue and tan is Aunt Purdy's Parlor and I am really happy with the way they look together.  I did not take any measurements at all when I was putting it together, but when I laid it on my dining room table was thrilled to see that it is a perfect fit.  

I had put together a little block with Cattails and Clover, also by Kansas Troubles, and had laid it aside to make a little potholder or candle mat when I discovered that the flower vines are not all headed in the same direction.  I had cut 4 extra Strawberry Jam triangles for the table runner and ended up sewing them to the sides since it also matched the Cattails and Clover.  It is probably 13 or 14 inches square now and I will find something to do with it.  

 

Lastly, I have found a couple of things on Pinterest that I have actually tried instead of simply pinning and never using.  These swing-arm hangers are perfect for spools of ribbon ...

Just make sure you get the hangers with the smaller arms and not the fat ones, seen in the picture.  Some spools will fit on the fat ones, but not very many.  Secondly, I love looking at Goodwill to find great cotton fabric to upcycle into something awesome.  Plaid fabric in guys' shirts often works very well with primitive quilting projects.  I always save the buttons for future use.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found the coolest way to do this --- cut off the whole strip instead of each individual button.  This saves a ton of time when searching for like buttons and it is easy to see in an instant what size, color, and number of buttons you have. 

I don't spend a great deal of time on Pinterest because I do not need anything else as addictive as quilting, but it sure is handy to keep "stuff" in one place and see other folks' "stuff."  Hopefully after the upcoming weekend I will have pictures of my two newly quilted table runners!  Hugs from Kentucky!

Good morning from the Beautiful Bluegrass!

Good morning from Kentucky!  I love being a part of Marlene's Let's Go Visiting and I am happy to meet some new folks.  We are patiently, actually EAGERLY, waiting on spring, the same as folks everywhere.  My work as a medical transcriptionist took me into the wee morning hours or I would have written a little about myself yesterday yesterday.  Basically, the subheader of my blog sums it up .... Child of God, wife, mother, sister, daughter, quilter, and more.  I love to quilt, I do.  My lack of time to devote to it is very frustrating, but I breathe deeply and when I DO get to sit down and quilt it saves my sanity.  I usually keep at least one full sized quilt going and a small project or two going at the same time.  When I only have 30 minutes to quilt, I work on something small.  I am working on a braid table runner right now 3 blue fabrics, a solid, floral, and gingham.  I will post a picture just as soon as it is finished.  I have work deadlines to meet by noon so I will need to cut this short today, but I am very happy to meet some new folks and will sit down this evening and visit the rest of the blogs on Marlene's list.  I hope each and every one of you have a day full of blessings!

Mini Churn Dash

I finally did a little quilting for me this weekend, a mini quilt that I have had in mind for some time.  We painted the downstairs bathroom in November and I have wanted something quilted in there since.  I went through my stash (yes, 2013 is the year for stash busting) and found some Moda --- one called Warm Memories and the other two pieces Vine Creek, both by Kansas Troubles.  I have a couple of blogging friends who are the masters of mini-quilts (hello Janet and Doniene)!  If you love quilting and have not checked out their blogs, hop right on over to both because you will be delighted.  Anyway, their quilting and their faith have inspired me many times.  My new mini-quilt isn't quite as "mini" as some they have done, but at 15 x 15 inches, it is still mini to me.

I have a couple of baskets in my bathroom and I made garters for both.  I am still not quite sure about the bows.  It seemed like a good idea, but once I got them on they look a little too "cutesy" for my taste.  I can always remove that part later if I decide I would rather not have them.

I have been doing some quilting for others, so it was nice to spend just a little time yesterday making something for myself.  I hope you all are having a day full of blessings!

A different kind of memory quilt --- in memory of

These two quilts were ones I was honored to create, but wish the circumstances were different.  Our little town lost a beloved member last August.  His name is Josh and he was in his 20s, I think 28.   He was captain of the volunteer fire department and that had been his passion since he was a little boy.  He was engaged to be married in September, and the week before his death in August he took wedding invitations to all his firemen friends at their weekly fire meeting.  They later talked about the smile on his face as he passed out the invitations for the upcoming celebration.  He worked as a logger and one morning in August he was struck by a falling tree.  He knew he was very badly injured and wanted to speak with his mom.  A coworker dialed her number and Josh spoke to her for several minutes before he passed away.  As a mother …… I cannot imagine.  It had to be the most painful yet one of the most precious conversations of her life.  She talked calmly to him and asked him to hang on because help was on the way.  She said later that she was at work and did not recognize the number because it was her son's co-worker's phone and typically would not have even answered it, but this time she did.  She said she is forever grateful for those precious few moments to spend talking to her son before he died.  The young man's aunt asked me if I could make two memory quilts, one for her sister and one for her mother (Josh's mother and grandmother).  Josh's mom loves purple and his grandmother loves red, so they each got their own quilt made of Josh's tees.  I heard from the mom today and she put the quilt on the antique cast iron twin bed that he once slept in.  Here are pictures of the two finished quilts and a center block of each, which were tees from a benefit held in his honor last fall. The ladies in the picture are his sister and his aunt. 

Framed memory quilt block

My sister-in-law lost her only brother in an accident at his job about a year and a half ago.  He was the only male sibling and his loss has been greatly felt by his family and all who knew him.  He loved the farm life, especially riding horses and tractors.  I wanted to do something for my sister-in-law to perhaps bring her some comfort and decided to make her a framed quilt block.  I talked with his wife and told her what I wanted to do and asked if she had any extra clothes of his that she might be able to part with.  She brought me a pair of his jeans and a tee shirt.  Since he loved the farm life, I thought about Hole in the Barn Door block but after some thought decided on a simple star, I think it is sawtooth star.  Since denim is really heavy and tees are really light, I worried about how this would go together, but it truly went together as well as any I have ever sewn.  I did use a fusible stabilizer on the back of the tee to keep it from stretching.  I gave my sister-in-law the block today and she really loves it and was very moved.

On a brighter note, my husband hung two bird feeders outside my office window.  I have kept my camera ready on my desk and managed to catch a few shots.  The quality is not the best because I took the pictures through the glass and screen of my window and had to be really sneaky and slow so the birds would not fly off.

 He put a wooden tomato cage between the two feeders to give the birds something to perch on and they have loved it. 

I hope y'all have a day full of blessings!  Hug your family and tell them you love them.

Sweet little "feel good" moment

I admit it .... I love to watch the surprise first couple wedding dances and the surprise father and daughter wedding dances.  This proposal is one of my favorites, ever.   I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  There is one of those pesky ads at the beginning, but it only lasts 3 seconds. 

Jamin's Downtown Disney wedding proposal