One of the saved quilts...

This is one of the quilts that I brought home with me from North Carolina... or was it Georgia... or maybe it was Tennessee. You see, my Aunt Shelia and Uncle Tommy live right there in the midst of these three states and the winding drive to their house takes you through each of them, several times, I'm sure.

Aunt Shelia gave me this quilt which I believe her great-grandmother made. The fabrics are very worn and there is a hole on one side that is large enough to put your fist through, but I still think it looks mighty fine on a wall. Reminds me of one that my own great-grandmother Oe would have made. It's kinda patriotic on this Memorial day. The light pieces that seem to be white were, actually, light blue at one time.

Did everyone have a good day, today? Memorial Day has always seemed to be a little of a bummer kinda day, to me. Just a bit sad that the world is the kinda place that it is and we need a day like this to remind us that there are people who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us. And cemeteries... well, I have always had a fascination with them. They kinda remind me of quilts- have you figured out that I have this illness where everything reminds me of quilts? Those inkblot tests and association games... "Looks like a quilt." But what I mean is that there are these hidden stories and mysteries in old quilts- so much more than little pieces of fabric all sewn together. And cemeteries are like that, too. So much more than just some stones with names on them. Real people with real lives, problems, joys and loves. So much more than just a name and a date. I love it when I find a marker that says those few extra things- maybe an old poem or just "beloved wife and mother." There's a small cemetery just a mile down the road from us. The kids and I will take a walk down there on occasion. Most of the markers are illegible. No one left to put flowers over them. The 'flu hit this area hard during the early part of the last century. Little bits and pieces of life. A touch of documentation... so leave some on your quilts, will ya? Just think of the peace you will be giving some obsessive compulsive quilt rescuer, someday!

Well, I don't know where that came from. I had a really great day. We spent the whole day at home. Well, I did. DH had to run to the auto-supply store for a wrench. He fixed the brake lines on my jeep. So if anything happens to me in the next few days... I'm kidding. He's a very fine fixer. He said they were already leaking, so maybe all those movies where someone flies off a cliff, due to the maniacal actions of some thug, are a little bit exaggerated. Didn't they regularly try to get rid of Jim Rockford in that way? Loved the Rockford Files. Anyway. It seems like Bill can't stay home for a whole day- but if you asked him what he did today, he'd say he stayed home all day. Little errands like that don't seem to count. (I think that comes from growing up in suburbia.) I finished the last quilt for a client. That makes 3. I always feel like I've been gone and need to get all caught up on housework when I am pushing to finish a project for a deadline. This will be some spending money for my mini-retreat with Sarah. They were rather troublesome quilts... one was shaped more like a bowl than a quilt. Have a very few tucks and nothing to keep me up at night. One was candlewicked. Ever try to quilt that stuff? Like little rocks on the quilt. Even with a big machine, it didn't make the bobbin tension happy. The last quilt... well, it went smoothly. She just wanted it done exactly like the other one with horses... about 2 years ago. Done a "few" quilts in that amount of time. Good thing I left myself some notes. Hope it's close enough. I cleaned my bedroom- don't faint Mom. I finally unpacked from our trip to Florida. Organized a few little nooks that no one else would notice, but have been driving me nuts. That would explain this entire rambling post. I've been driven completely nuts by a disorganized vanity shelf. Sprayed the kids with the water hose. It was hot, today. A nice soft hot- the kind that summer was meant to be. Waiting for lightening bugs.