Post Labor Day Catch Up
1 year ago
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
#APQuiltalong
I started working on this quilt about a a week ago, and thought I should post about it to keep myself accountable. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, in this Feb 2014 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. When I got going, though, I found it's truly "outside my box." I'm having great difficulty making it as scrappy as the original, as you can see. I'm just going to process along and see what happens. The quilts people are making are looking very different from one another~
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Such a difficult year....more quilts to come.
I realize as I write this that there are so many worse things that could have happened. I'm thankful that that the results were so positive overall.
But, I lost my Zao. That alone makes me cry, though I know it is the way of all things. He lived his 10 years and then got sick and it was over. But my Biggy bud is gone! I did take this harder than losing my beloved and very close sister, as several people have pointed out to me. However, I will attribute this to several points.
1. I was responsible for Zao. I did not observe his health going down so quickly, (Probably did not want to see) and had to make the decision to "put him to sleep." My sister made her own choices, I (and my husband) were responsible for Zao's.
2. I feel sure that my sis kew that her choices had consequences, and is in heaven and in a better place than she was in her miserable place here. I don't know WHAT I feel about what happens to out pets....
3. Zao was my CONSTANT, "moment by moment" companion. All he wanted was to be by my side. Nuff said.
Also my stepdad died this year, he was 88 and ready to go, an entirely different experience. Life and death are old, old, partners.
I'm ready to "try" to embrace a new chapter in my life. Quilting will still be a large part of it.... quilting without Zao lying beside me while I sew. I do pray that I will be able to take the love I have for him, my sis and my dad, add it to the mix, and create beautiful things that honor the growth in me which has come from these experiences. May God use these sorrows to create the beauty which only comes from loss and show His face.
But, I lost my Zao. That alone makes me cry, though I know it is the way of all things. He lived his 10 years and then got sick and it was over. But my Biggy bud is gone! I did take this harder than losing my beloved and very close sister, as several people have pointed out to me. However, I will attribute this to several points.
1. I was responsible for Zao. I did not observe his health going down so quickly, (Probably did not want to see) and had to make the decision to "put him to sleep." My sister made her own choices, I (and my husband) were responsible for Zao's.
2. I feel sure that my sis kew that her choices had consequences, and is in heaven and in a better place than she was in her miserable place here. I don't know WHAT I feel about what happens to out pets....
3. Zao was my CONSTANT, "moment by moment" companion. All he wanted was to be by my side. Nuff said.
Also my stepdad died this year, he was 88 and ready to go, an entirely different experience. Life and death are old, old, partners.
I'm ready to "try" to embrace a new chapter in my life. Quilting will still be a large part of it.... quilting without Zao lying beside me while I sew. I do pray that I will be able to take the love I have for him, my sis and my dad, add it to the mix, and create beautiful things that honor the growth in me which has come from these experiences. May God use these sorrows to create the beauty which only comes from loss and show His face.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Betty and Eventide
I learned something about myself this last week. My younger sister Sally and I had a 3~way call with Betty, our older sis, and then I called Betty back and had a LONG... 247 minutes... call with her, all on Tuesday. She was really "into" Pet Society on Facebook, (she had 8 pets!) and that day she taught me how to have my own pet, "Fred" and his "petling" kitty, "Honeybunch."
She had a lot of fun telling me what to do! LOL~ something she always loved was telling me what to do!....
Betty was in very poor health, and one of the topics during our call was what a terrible night she had gone through the night before, so when I hung up I told her to call me even if it was in the middle of the night. I live in Indiana and she was in Texas, so there was really nothing I could do to help, but I told her to call anyway, whatever the hour. I said, "And tomorrow, we'll set up "Fred's" new room."
She said, "Yes........ tomorrow." We said we loved each other and hung up.
The next morning I called her, but she didn't answer. Later in the morning, Sally called me and asked if I had heard from Betty, because she hadn't answered the phone for Sally either. It totally could have been the case that Betty just didn't want to answer, so Sal and I just let it go... but a few hours later, Sally called me back and told me that Betty's son had called her and told her Betty had passed away in her bed the night before. She and I both sobbed, because really the three of us were so close.
Now here is the strangest thing to me. When I got this call from Sally I was in the process of assembling my Eventide blocks into a top. Rich was outside working in the yard, but when I hung up from talking to Sally I had the STRONGEST urge just to keep sewing. I argued with myself that I should go tell Rich the news, but, I SO wanted just to attach another block. I forced myself to tell him instead, but then, after he hugged me and held me and listened to my stories, I immediately went back down to the sewing room, which I guess is "my" spot in the house. I wandered around for a few minutes touching the fabric bundles and the machine, and the iron, etc.~ and then I just gave in to my impulse and sat down and sewed. I was literally sobbing and sewing at the same time. I was crying so much I couldn't see the needle and had to keep blinking and pushing the fabric through! (I just didn't understand why it seemed so necessary for me to do that, but it made perfect sense to Rich. So maybe even though opposites attract, there may be deeper similarities between us that are not immediately apparent.)
I'm still processing all this stuff, but I found that such an odd reaction from myself. Overall, I realize that piecing quilt tops is not just something I do, it IS a part of me that I only found 2 years ago. And also I think it's so very appropriate that the quilt I was working on was named, "Eventide." I've always been a "name" person, and part of the reason I love Eventide is it's name, but who knew it would have anything to do, timing~wise, with Betty's Eventide.
All I can really say is, that it definitely helped me to put those blocks together on that afternoon. "Life is Beautiful" ~sometimes in the strangest of ways. And Eventide will always be "Betty's" quilt and very precious to me.
She had a lot of fun telling me what to do! LOL~ something she always loved was telling me what to do!....
Betty was in very poor health, and one of the topics during our call was what a terrible night she had gone through the night before, so when I hung up I told her to call me even if it was in the middle of the night. I live in Indiana and she was in Texas, so there was really nothing I could do to help, but I told her to call anyway, whatever the hour. I said, "And tomorrow, we'll set up "Fred's" new room."
She said, "Yes........ tomorrow." We said we loved each other and hung up.
The next morning I called her, but she didn't answer. Later in the morning, Sally called me and asked if I had heard from Betty, because she hadn't answered the phone for Sally either. It totally could have been the case that Betty just didn't want to answer, so Sal and I just let it go... but a few hours later, Sally called me back and told me that Betty's son had called her and told her Betty had passed away in her bed the night before. She and I both sobbed, because really the three of us were so close.
Now here is the strangest thing to me. When I got this call from Sally I was in the process of assembling my Eventide blocks into a top. Rich was outside working in the yard, but when I hung up from talking to Sally I had the STRONGEST urge just to keep sewing. I argued with myself that I should go tell Rich the news, but, I SO wanted just to attach another block. I forced myself to tell him instead, but then, after he hugged me and held me and listened to my stories, I immediately went back down to the sewing room, which I guess is "my" spot in the house. I wandered around for a few minutes touching the fabric bundles and the machine, and the iron, etc.~ and then I just gave in to my impulse and sat down and sewed. I was literally sobbing and sewing at the same time. I was crying so much I couldn't see the needle and had to keep blinking and pushing the fabric through! (I just didn't understand why it seemed so necessary for me to do that, but it made perfect sense to Rich. So maybe even though opposites attract, there may be deeper similarities between us that are not immediately apparent.)
I'm still processing all this stuff, but I found that such an odd reaction from myself. Overall, I realize that piecing quilt tops is not just something I do, it IS a part of me that I only found 2 years ago. And also I think it's so very appropriate that the quilt I was working on was named, "Eventide." I've always been a "name" person, and part of the reason I love Eventide is it's name, but who knew it would have anything to do, timing~wise, with Betty's Eventide.
All I can really say is, that it definitely helped me to put those blocks together on that afternoon. "Life is Beautiful" ~sometimes in the strangest of ways. And Eventide will always be "Betty's" quilt and very precious to me.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Well, it's a marathon... who knew?
My sister Betty died, the day before yesterday. She had been in poor health for years, and had experienced so much loss in the last year of her life... her husband Paul, and both of her beloved dogs, Molly and Lady.
We were prepared... but not really~ "today" is never supposed to be"the"day ~right?
When I finish "Eventide" it will be amazing... and so appropriately named. What a quilt for such a time as this!
Paula
We were prepared... but not really~ "today" is never supposed to be"the"day ~right?
When I finish "Eventide" it will be amazing... and so appropriately named. What a quilt for such a time as this!
Paula
Monday, March 21, 2011
Update on Eventide
I have proceeded along as quickly as I can on Eventide. It has been an interesting process. The worse I felt, the more minutes it took to complete a block, (and I timed this).... and now that I feel better, the blocks are going together more quickly, and look better, as well! This illness has been so informative for me, in so many ways! Special thanks to those who reached out to me in such a special way... and renewed my faith in the positive side of human nature when it seemed silly to believe in that!Here is my progress so far, I have 8 Ohio Star Blocks still to complete, and then the inner border and setting the top together. I think I will make it!
And~ I think~ that whenever I am not feeling well, I will reach for Eventide!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Quilts are love
I made this for my son because he asked me for a quilt! He said, "When are you going to make me a quilt? I would love to have a quilt by you."LOL~ with a 25 year old son, it doesn't get much better than that!
I'm so proud of Ryan. Love him so much!!!!!
(This quilt was a bit harder to make than it looked, because of the offsetting rectangles. Pretty, though. It looks great in Ryan's house!)
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