Respite...

I'm not sure what that word means, but I like the sound of it. Sounds like "rest-just for spite!" I am in WV, now. I came to check on the folks and return my Dad's truck. I brought DS #2 with me and DD #2. We found a light dusting of snow on the ground- and the scene out their back window is very different from my wide open spaces. DH and the rest of the kiddos are joining me in a few days. I have a little bit of down time while my dad has some tests run and sees the Dr. I thought about going along and then I said, as my boys do, "Stink it!" I'm stayin' home. I am constantly trying to break them of that bad habit of using worthless words, so don't tell them I do it all the time, please. My Mom has an ergonomic keyboard and it is demonstrating to me how I have a very off-balance way of typing. Not a newsflash. But at this rate, it is going to take me ages to complete one blog! keep leaving out the middle of words. giggle.

Of course, I brought some sewing with me- and my FW. You know, several projects. And I am hoping to get some pictures of some of my Grandmother's quilts while I am here. She loved using old wool coats- very cool. I wanted to thank everyone for your encouraging words the other day. Sometimes, you just need to holler a little bit and then regroup. This next week, here in the wilds, is my version of regrouping. The stream is rushing past their barn-yes, they live in a barn, and I can hear a crow in the distance. The fire smells so wonderful and homey and my mom is the queen of caffeine, so I have lots of teas to choose from! I'm going to sew some and cook some and show my mom how to blog. Maybe get my dad to smoke some venison- know he will once the boys start in on him- you'd like it, Judy. Just relax where I don't have to do anything. Maybe not possible, but I'm gonna give it a good try. Thanks for listening!

A Cup of Tea...

How come we say, " a piece of cake" when we are describing something easy? Why don't we say, " a cup of tea?" I've made a few cakes in my time and not one has been as easy to accomplish as a cup of tea. And I really love tea. Just a nice black tea- maybe orange pekoe. Nothing fancy. I know green tea is supposed to be extra good for you and now it's white tea that has lots of purported anti-oxidants... but it just seems watered-down and weak. Tazo has a nice herbal selection that has a bite. But a round Irish tea or a sharp English breakfast tea... now that's just plain lovely. (That's the word my 4-year old used to describe the quilt I had laying on the sewing room floor, today. "It's lovely!" What 4-year old talks like that? Apparently, mine. And the quilt is anything but lovely- very loud pink and kelly-green wool in hound's tooth. yikes! But bright. and pink.) I especially like loose-leaf tea- then I get to use this adorable tea ball a friend got for me. Sadly, Po-dunk, Indiana is not a Mecca of tea lovers, so the bagged stuff is what I settle for. My Uncle Paul would say, "It's like drinking Pepsi through a straw." I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks about what he was originally referring to. No, I will not explain. You have to know my Uncle Paul.

Had a trying day, today. Could use a cup of tea. Love that line from My Fair Lady. "Cup-cup-cup-cup-of-of-of-of-cup-cup-cup-cup-of-of-of-of..Cuppa tay." With Eliza's mouth full of marbles... It's nearly midnight, so I'll have to settle for the Tazo, Wild Sweet Orange. Tastes like a cross between a pine tree and an orange peel. But no caffeine. Supposed to make me feel like I'm in a market in Marrakesh...sigh. We put my mother-in-law in the hospital, today. Some of you may know that we take care of her in our home. She has lots of medical issues- gives a whole new dimension to the saying, "She's got issues." We are hoping that they'll be able to find ways we can deal with them a little more successfully. Then she will be moved to a respite care center for a week or so while they implement her new regimen of medications. Feels weird to be in the house, without her.

We also saw our daughter's neurologist, today. She apparently has "a very small spot on her brain, and we need our friends at Riley to take a look at her." It wasn't bad news, just... not really good news, either. And I'm just really tired. Funny thing, the imaging center that did her MRI called and asked if they could take her picture and use her on their advertising posters. She drew them a picture and apparently they were quite taken with her. She doesn't know a stranger and loves to give gifts. And she treats everybody like family.

On the quilting front, I've absolutely lost the tenuous grasp I had on my sanity. I'm sick, that's all there is to it. I'll have to ask the doc if there is a way to fix me. I am finding it completely impossible to stick to any one thing. And I am starting new projects like I have all the time in the world to work on them, or like I don't have a thousand things already in the hopper. What is wrong with me??? I'm driving myself crazy. I have worked on no less than six different quilts, this past week. It's not that I'm not finding any solace or satisfaction in each of the individual projects with which I'm working, but my minding is flying in a hundred different directions, and to tell the truth, I'm afraid to let it settle. What'll it find? Yikes! Giggle. Reminds me of a manic phase of a manic- depressive- only I'm not really have any fun. giggle. I guess you all are going to, now, know how crazy I am - if you were ever in any doubt.

So, here I am, peacefully sewing along on my memorial quilt for the coal miners and I'm struck by a song playing on the stereo. (I love music and I'm not very picky about what I listen to- although I have to agree with Tonya R., Shania Twain? Not so much and Faith Hill? I just wish she'd quit screaming.) Anyway, the song was going something like, "You've got bones in your closet, you've got ghosts in your town, you're running scared 'cause you know they're out there, just waitin' for the sun to go down." And I'm in my quilting room and I'm thinkin', "You've got no idea, buster...." And it occurs to me that this would make a great quilt. Drag out the bones from my closet and put them all together in one horrendous quilt and make Tonya's letters in the border "You've got bones in your closet..." Now what do you think? So I drag out all the blocks I've done- small quilts I never finished and know I never will and spiffy them up with a bit of Kona black... and add a skull (Tonya, now don't laugh! I was going for a sweet, cuddly bone-head and ended up with "Skeletor!") and maybe some bones in the border- even found a "sunset" which was a half of a pumpkin- now laying on it's side. Well, the "bones" will be in the light of day soon, I hope. You can kinda see it coming together in the upper left-hand corner. (Sarah, I'm sorry about adding two of your blocks to this montage of woe-begotten peieces, but you know I'll never make two more to go with them...)Yes, I know Darcie is gonna be shakin' her head and saying,"That girl needs a shrink!" and Bonnie is gonna say a Margarita might work, but I don't drink and the shrink? Well, maybe this could be termed "occupational therapy"...

A relative of Bonnie's...

Bonnie had posted an old picture of an incredibly tiny-pieced quilt. A nine-patch. I said, at the time, that I had a similar one tucked away, somewhere. Actually, I know just where it sleeps. I was curious as to the dimensions of mine, so I roused it out of a sound slumber and measured the pieces. I was shocked to discover that these blocks are even smaller than her 2" ones. These measure 1.5." Each little piece is only 1/2." Amazing. I bought this quilt about 6 years ago, for $10. The poor thing is "all loved up." (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) I don't suppose it has any real value- as it is just a fragment, really. I bought it at a hole-in-the-wall flea market- you know the kind, where all these old guys sit around smoking and gossiping. It's obvious, they aren't really interested in selling anything. It's more of a social club for old timers. I couldn't just leave it there. It was coughing and spluttering and saying how it couldn't bear to listen to another dirty joke... What was I to do? The entire ride home I was kicking myself for getting emotionally attached. You know, there is some kind of disorder where people are unable to form normal bonds with other people... Maybe I could hold the key to the antidote. Just try to tone it down a bit. This poor bit of the past has no practical purpose left. And it isn't like me to buy something just because I like it. Truth is, I rarely like things that aren't practical. There was about a half more to the quilt, but had head-size holes in it. I have used the little bits and pieces in ornaments for the tree and such. I am hoping to get the remainder of it bound and maybe use it as a table runner or a wall hanging. But it is really too fragile for even that simple task. The areas that look as if the fabric has merely faded is actually where the fabric has completely disappeared. Maybe frame it... But there really isn't a lot of interest going on until you get close. Some people are like that. Can you see the quilting in the bottom picture? The texture you see is from the fantastic quilting she did. It is crosshatched every 1/4." I love it. I keep coming up with 16 stitches per inch. Can that be possible? Well, it won't warm a body anymore but it warms my heart- breaks it a little to think that she was for sale for 10 bucks at a seedy little flea market.

Whoo-hoo!! I'm ironing with steam, now!

My dad always says, when you have a little luxury in your life or when you're making good progress, "You're cookin' with gas, now!" Well, hey, I'm really ironing with steam. My son, Paul, came to me some time last week and said that the iron was broken. How could it be broken? Did you drop it? No, but it isn't hot and water is running out of the holes... Well, I'm no ironing professional, but that did sound broken to me. I checked it out and it was as he said. Broken. That's the technical term I use when something doesn't work. Makes piecing a challenge. So I didn't. I've been meaning to get to Wal-mart and get me a new iron. Just trying to find the time. Around our house, irons are considered disposable. I break them so often, I can't see the sense in paying more than $10 for one. Usually, it happens when I trip over the cord. Or I bump into the ironing board. Grace is not my middle name. (And grace is not in my genes. My mom once stepped out of the car, hit an icy patch and completely disappeared. Mom? MOM? She had slid under the car. I do believe there was a small portion of her sticking out, but it wasn't obvious to the rest of us who were still in the car. Funny thing is, my dad had stopped the car by the door so she wouldn't have to walk so far over the ice. Knowing what a clutz she is. Now, my DH takes my arm and walks me to the car, when there's snow on the ground. I'd be offended, if it weren't truly a hazard. If I weren't truly a hazard.) Where was I? Oh, yes, getting a new iron. Well, one afternoon I make it out to my sewing room and, lo and behold, there's a new iron. And a new ironing board cover. Now, I bet he missed the iron as he likes his shirts without wrinkles, please. But how sweet of him to notice I needed an new cover! I'm impressed. When I asked him how much he paid for the iron, $30. I about fell over. Now you know what is going to happen... I'll bump into the ironing board as I'm tripping over the cord and it'll refuse to get hot and water will coming pouring out of the holes. Yep, it'll be broken.

Hearts Wild...

These are the two quilts that we made for our shop hop. It isn't really a shop hop, just a game during the month of February, involving 6 quilt shops, including the Quilter's Toy Box. This is a Kwik Scrappy Hearts pattern. They have stars, also. It's really just a stack the deck - with a little more structure. Tanya likes the colors bright. Could you have guessed that? First, she says, "Nina pick out 6 reds and 6 whites." Sillily, I did. Not exactly her preference. So she aims for the stripes in hot pinks, orange, and yellow. It's a very hot valentine and reminded me of Tonya R.'s hugs and kisses quilt. She added the reds and so I pieced the top, but stopped after 12 blocks, because I wasn't thrilled with the lack of contrast. I did some dense qulting in an attempt to define the light from the dark. It helped, but still... Now Tanya's quilt top is... bright with plenty of contrast. I brought it home, today, to try and get it quilted over the weekend. Hers is a double- what was she thinking??? kinda big for a shop sample, but it is very pretty and definitely... hearts wild. I'll get to keep the red one, when she's done with it. I have a friend that is a child psychologist- she's the one I sent the Purrrfect Christmas Cats quilt to. She said the kids loved it, so I thought they might like this bright quilt- and trying to find the hearts.

I have been busy busing folks back and forth to Dr. appointments. Even the Dr. said he was seeing a little too much of me, lately. I couldn't agree more. Eva had an MRI, today and she did great- didn't move an inch. They let Bill and I go in with her and hold her hand. Shew... I got so nauseated. But I don't think I let on. Felt fine as soon as they turned that thing off. They were very sweet to Eva and managed to find the country music she wanted to listen to- but she said they really needed to get some Shania Twain- everybody would like that.

It's Thursday, and I am hard-pressed to find anything I have actually accomplished, this week. That stinks. Hey, I finished a client quilt. That's something, right? But I think I need to get myself down to the sewing room and see what I can get into. I need to pick up the mess I made with the hearts. I could start quilting Tanya's quilt... maybe that'll wait til morning. I think I need some time on the Featherweight. I started a memorial quilt for the coal miner's who were lost in the Sago Mine. A log cabin. It is black(coal) on one side and white with black(coal dust gets on everything) on the other side. The center block I made extra large in a pretty blue(sky.) I'd like to work some on that. Or maybe the blue and yellow one. Or Sarah's quilt challenge. Or the YBR- I have the rows sewn together, already...See? The possibilities are endless when you are the queen of "projects started!"

Meet the Folks...

Every weekend I get an email from my parents- just the news of their week- usually involving a bit of health issues, but always including lots of naturalist stuff. My dad will describe, in detail, how this snake swallowed a frog, whole and alive, not once but twice. Or how he shot the snake for getting into his birdhouses- don't mess with his birds and you do alright for a snake. He tells funny stories about foxes and deer and even mountain lions. (Or was that a bobcat?) Or how he fed mice to the fish in his creek. He'll talk about pawpaws(that's a weird hillbilly, banana-type fruit) or disease-resistant white chestnuts. A real Daniel Boone. He is interested in everything and anything. How many people could describe to an 8 year-old how a combustion engine works? Well, he can and I remember it clearly. My mom is more inclined to relate about Aunt Margaret's health or the apple pie she made for Brother Virgil and Marie. Dad always spends some time on the state of the weather and how the bureaucrats are sticking it to us. Mom tells everybody how Dad is giving her advice on boiling water, but how he is so cute she doesn't mind. They live in a one-room house, together, 24-7. Now that has to say something about their character. She's a morning person and he's a night owl- in one room. Wouldn't that be a deal-breaker in most relationships? But, by my reckoning, they have been married somewhere in the vicinity of 42 years. They are both of an artistic bent. My mom paints and quilts, beautifully. She used to decorate wedding cakes and make floral arrangements. She plays the piano and used to sing at weddings. She's very good. My dad used to draw, but now he expresses himself in building things- like bridges and barns(they live in a large one.) And he makes stellar caramel popcorn. He loves to ride motorcycles and skiing- he once saved two people from drowning- shortly after he had major surgery. He's very strong. He reads voraciously- he has no less than three books by his chair that he reads every night before bed. A few chapters of each. I'd get the stories mixed up in my mind. My mom is getting him hooked on Sudoku puzzles. She makes tons of quilts- which I am painfully behind on quilting them for her. She makes my girls sweet little nightgowns and aprons. Everytime we get together, Dad has to have a talk with us and the children about how we need to be diligent in keeping our faith. He reads to my children, just like he did for me. My mom always gives the children at least 9 kisses, each, on their cheeks- that's what they call a "Grandmother kiss." They're just the best.

Questions in Quadruple...

• 4 Jobs I've had....Lawyer's aid, Cookbook reader on tape for Books for the Blind, Respiratory Therapist, Longarm quilter
• 4 Movies I could watch over and over.... Open Range, Much Ado About Nothing, Return to Me, Knight's Tale
• 4 Places you've lived....Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, Tennessee
• 4 TV shows you love to watch... don't you just hate those loud obnoxious commercials?
• 4 Places you have been on vacation.... Niagra Falls, New Hampshire, Georgia, and my favorite, West Virginia
• 4 Websites I visit everyday.... Sarah, Darcie, Lucy, and Darilyn
• 4 Favorite foods... Seafood, chinese, chocolate, tea
• 4 Places I'd rather be.... Snowed in with kids and sweetheart
• 4 Albums you can't live without... My new Little Big Town cd, Sarah Brightman's Time To Say Goodbye, my Randy Travis collection- love his deep voice, Andrea Bocelli's Romance cd
• 4 people I'd like to pass this on to... Sarah, Darcie, Bonnie, Tonya R.