Quilt Envy!

We're waiting semi-patiently for the birth of our fourth grandchild.  Our younger daughter Lisa is expecting her second baby boy any day now.  We've had one false alarm and now are all trying to pretend that we aren't anxious or anything.  One of the things I do to keep myself busy is to quilt.  And each of my two daughters' pregnancies has been filled with my making quilts for the new babies.  I also always want to make a quilt for the older sibling too, so there is no feelings of quilt envy.  HaHa. 

With my two older grandchildren, that might actually have been a bit of an option as they seem to keep track of how many quilts each has and have been known to ask for a quilt if they think they haven't gotten one for a while.

Jack who is expecting a new brother any day seems to have a different view.  He's only three so things may change but so far I haven't seen him ever use any of the quilts I have made him.  Recently I presented him with a  quilt for his third birthday which is one day before his little brother's due date.  I carefully backed it with minkie like fabric which is similar to the blankie he uses on his bed so that maybe he would like to use it.  I dragged it out and showed him the alphabet on the front and how soft the back was.  Nope! Not interested.  Ok, maybe no more quilts for Jack for a while.  I make too many for each of the grandchildren anyway, but I personally think that you can never have too many quilts.

Just One More Joe Story

A few years ago, Joe got into his car and promptly dropped his keys.  He looked everywhere, couldn't find them, and called me at the shop, demanding I come home immediately to give him my key to his car.  Grumpily, I did so and offered to look in his car for his keys but he insisted if he couldn't find them, no one could.  When I came home from the shop later that day,  I found he had continued his search and had decided they must have somehow slipped into the seat itself and he had cut the side of the seat open with a knife.  Of course, the keys weren't there.  I again offered to look for the keys and was refused.  A few days later, Laura was over and exasperated with her Dad, went out to the car without his permission and found his keys.  They had simply fallen in the passenger side well and were hiding under the passenger seat.  Although he was glad to have his keys back, he was a bit disgruntled that Laura could find them and has never admitted that if he had let me look in the first place, there would be no slash in the seat of his car which he still has in part because of this story.  This car was the one and only car he ever leased.  Since he abused the mileage and the interior of the car, he had to buy it.  So he still is driving a 1998 Chevy. 

This car does not like him and he continues to abuse it.  He has duct tape on various parts of the interior just to hold it together and to keep the above mentioned seat from ripping his jeans as the springs are coming through.  You might wonder why he doesn't buy a new car.  Long story short, we have another vehicle which I drive and keep in good shape, and it seems senseless to buy another one until this one dies.  It refuses to die but it continues to annoy Joe.

Last night when he couldn't find his cell phone, he admitted that it had been in his coat pocket and probably fallen out somewhere.  This coat is notorious for losing things but he continues to put things in the pockets.  Of course, it's in the car; the phone fell in between the seat and the seat belt mechanism on the right hand side of the driver's seat.  Having wedged itself comfortably there, it refused to be pryed out.  Joe tried, I tried; our hands are too large.  I tried a screwdriver, pliers, tongs, duct tape, with no success.  Probably he will have to ask either Laura or Quinn, our 8 year old granddaughter, to please reach in and pull it out.  These things happen to no one but Joe.

Red Work Raffle Quilt!

The Heart of Ohio Quilters Guild Raffle Quilt 2013

Winter Jubilation

 

After months of work, the individually hand embroidered red work blocks have been carefully put together in a gorgeous setting and will soon be hand quilted by Ohio Amish quilters.  I can't wait to see the completed quilt.  Raffle tickets will be available from guild members and the winning ticket will be drawn at the Heart of Ohio Quilters Guild Quilt Show, at Bryn Du in Granville, Ohio, in October.

Disappearing 9 Patch!

My fascination with the disappearing nine patch continues.  This was made for a friendly challenge among the BFG's (also known as the Bodacious Fabric Goddesses).  I was given some lovely Batik fabrics, a request for an off center star, and some size limits which I forget exactly but which I'm sure I met. 

I added a few batiks from my stash and began making nine patches using Eleanor Burns' method which gives you two nine patches from one procedure.   Then I cut all the nine patches on the diagonal once.  I played around with that and didn't see what I wanted, so I cut all the diagonal pieces again.  Basically, each of the nine patches was cut twice on the diagonal.  I laid them out to get my star and surrounding blocks.  The side and bottom border of the blue grounded the piece I thought.  It's finished with a simple black border and binding of one of the blues.

It was a fun project even if I did procrastinate and had to finish the top, quilting, binding in one marathon day, which, of course, was the day before we met at Bon Vie Bistro in Easton to exchange.

Home Bound

Through no fault of my own, I have spent this Monday at home.  Usually Mondays are spent at the shop, Heavy Metal Quilting, and are really productive.  I get organized for the week, set a quilt onto the longarm, and enjoy immersing myself back into quilting.  Four days a week, I spend at least six hours at the shop, enjoying myself and making enough money to pay for the studio.

However, I hit a deer on my way home from Kai's football game Saturday evening and have no transportation today.  No one was injured except the deer and I was able to drive the mile home from Dawe's Arboretum.  Today it's taken a lot of phone calls, but the car has been towed to the repair location,and a car rental has been arranged, but the vehicle isn't available until 5:30 this evening.  OK, all of that is fine, and everyone was as cooperative as possible, but I'm stuck at home for the day.

I don't think I could do that every day.  I really miss not being able to follow my schedule of being at the shop by 10 am or earlier.  I am sure I am interrupting Joe's schedule of eating, napping, eating, calling me on the phone three or four times, eating, napping, etc.  I did the laundry on Saturday.  I cleaned the house on Friday afternoon and evening.  I could do more of both things, always, sigh.

Tomorrow, a car and off to the shop and the quilt guild auction and back to normal!!

Not that person!

I recently found out that I may have lumbar stenosis which is a narrowing of the spinal column that can cause various issues.  No true diagnosis yet, no specialist appointment yet, so of course, I got on the internet to discover what symptoms are usual, and what treatments are often prescribed.

Upon finding the information, one bit of description stuck out.  If you see an elderly person in the grocery store, leaning forward over the cart, and shuffling along with small steps, this person probably has lumbar stenosis as that posture relieves the pain. I don't want to be that person.  First of all, the word elderly gives me the shudders; then to say that the individual is shuffling.  Good Grief!

I think I'm just rather angry.  I've had both knees replaced and they feel great.  Now I have to deal with pain in my lower back.  I guess I'm just falling apart.  I also have cataracts and am just waiting for those to get bad enough before I can have the surgery.

I am grateful for what I have going for me but am just a little ticked off as well.  It will all work out I am sure.  Sigh!

Ironing, Baseball, and Just How Hot Is It!

This may be the first days of summer with global warming and all that, but no days have ever seemed hotter than those last spring days of high school.  I would dress appropriately for the day, had to wear a skirt, had to wear a blouse with sleeves, had to wear hose, thought I had to wear a girdle to hold up the hose. 

Even with the large windows wide open in the older section of Coventry High School, it was still pretty warm; and in the newer sections, it was worse with less ventilation.  I can remember the sweat trickling down my face while taking a test and leaving droplets on my paper.  After leaving my mostly not air-conditioned classrooms to head for home, I would board the blazing hot bus where the leather seats would stick to my body for the ride home.  I would then clump into my equally not air-conditioned house to find my mom ironing in front of the tv.  Yep, ironing. 

Mom would set up the ironing board in front of the tv with a stool to perch on and watch the Cleveland Indians' games.  She loved baseball, especially the Indians, and would save her ironing to do in the afternoons so she could watch the games.  Once I had changed clothes and flopped in the shade somewhere, I would begin to cool off but I could still hear the distinctive noise of a baseball game on tv.  Nothing else sounds like that.  And the only thing worse in my teenage opinion was the sound of a baseball game on the radio. 

We lived in an old farm house surrounded by huge trees and eventually the evening would cool off and the house would fill with light filtered breezes.  Many an evening I fell asleep with wide open windows and the rustling branches as a lullaby. 

Now there is air conditioning everywhere; and when briefly we were without, my husband had a true conniption fit.  But I opened the windows and let the fan pull the breezes into the bedroom and drifted off with no complaints.  Also now I understand my mom's fascination with the boys of summer.  Having watched Kai play since T-ball, I've learned a great deal about baseball and can cheer and moan and groan with the rest of the crowd.  I actually missed Kai's game last night for a Quilt Guild meeting, and he hit a three run triple!  I am sorry not to have seen it, but delighted that he hit it.  When I turn on basesball, it's most likely the college world series of softball or baseball or maybe the Little League World Series.  But I don't save my ironing to accompany the watching.  Let's face it, the only time I iron is when I'm quilting.