One of my stolen treasures...

Ok, I didn't actually steal it... or perhaps it depends on who you ask... My Mama said I could have it!! My Papa... well, he didn't even know it was there... OK, here's the story- I'll try to keep it brief, but you know how hard that is for me.

Last weekend, we made a very fast and brief visit to West Virginia to visit my folks and to help my Dad with a chore. He needed some muscle and since I have that in abundance... not personally, mind you, but in the form of a hunk of a husband and 6 sons. Oh, alright, Abe the babe wasn't likely any help, but were we supposed to leave him home? Sheesh, you guys sure are argumentative, today. Maybe my conscience about my stolen loot. So we ran to their place Saturday night (5 1/2 hour drive) and came home Monday night. See? Quick. Well, while Dad was having the guys help him with a very heavy air-conditioner... I found myself downstairs with Mom. I didn't plan on pilfering- she had canned some squash for me that I was going to set out to take home. That was the only pilfering I was planning. But then we got to sorting through boxes. Some of them had eons-old polyester fabric in them that really was nasty- given to Mom by someone else trying to declutter. She took it in pity. Not for the fabric, but in the effort to help a... is there a nice way to say, "Pack Rat?" "Horder?" See, it just doesn't sound nice... How about, "Collector?" We won't say a thing about taste. Getting back to my pilfering... er... collecting. Mom and I threw away about 5 big black trash bags of junk that had seen better days. Nothing of value. Honest. Mostly worn out clothes- and even some we saved. My dad had 10-15 years of Sears uniforms stockpiled... just in case he decided to come out of retirement? Well, we decided they would make a fine quilt- full of memories for the grandkids. See? We really didn't throw anything of value away. Touchy, am I? Well, I did overhear Papa saying how that it is very easy to come into someone else's home and throw away their treasures, but it would be a different story if he came to my house and threw away mine. So I am just saying, yet again, no treasure, either real or perceived, was tossed. And we did find some treasure and that is what I am getting at.

This quilt was made by my maternal grandmother. How cool is that? I just love the idea of it looking down at me from that wall. She passed away 31 years ago, next month. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. She liked the diagonal quilting and did this on several of her tops. I love the blue- don't look so shocked! and the aqua. It is a light and airy quilt and perfect for the summer, but now that Fall is upon us, I'll be taking it down and putting up Abel's quilt. I confess that I also collected a quilt made by both my great grandfather and great grandmother, Grover and Oe. It is a utility quilt and full of love- ie.holes, but I still treasure it and have it sitting on the armoire in a place of honor. I'll try to get a picture of that posted, soon. It is a lot of fun- full of scraps- inside and out! My first quilt- started when I was about 8yrs old, was also found- it is still in blocks. I threatened to assemble the blocks- which some were made by both me and my sister- and giving it to my sister to be "treasured" forever. It is polyester, in pink, navy and maroon. Very bad. Just a simple 9-patch.

Here's a postcard idea I went with- I have lots more. It's fun and bright but could still be masculine. I find guy postcards difficult to make. They start off looking all manly, but by the time I embellish... girly. So no, or little, embellishing on a guy postcard! This has just a touch of metallic thread and some varigated thread.

Oh, and yes, I need Dad to come and help me de-clutter my piano! He can feel free to toss anything he finds on it! "Flylady" would call it a "hot spot." I call it a raging inferno of torture!! This is the landing spot of choice for all of dh's treasures. And I see a Dr. Suess book there, and a beanie, and is that a toy gun? Yeah, right, they all belong on the piano. But ya know? I've given up. When company comes, sometimes I just dump it all in a box and hope he'll be able to find the power bill in time to keep the lights on! Other times, I figure, "what's a little clutter between friends?"