Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My Treasure


At my dear sister-in-law's funeral, her kids asked me if I would like to have her treadle sewing machine. Of course, I said yes! (I thought her daughter would keep it, but she didn't want it). Turns out that it was actually Bill's mother's sewing machine (Bill and his siblings are in their 80's). We went down today and picked it up, had lunch with Jean's son, Ken, and his other sister, Anne. Ken has the dubious pleasure of being the executor of her estate, so they are in the process of cleaning out her condo, etc. He would have been extremely happy if Bill and I had backed up the truck and loaded it up with a whole bunch of other "stuff", but sorry, that didn't happen! LOL He did stick a wooden pump to put in my flower bed on the truck, though!

I still need to clean up this treadle (I have another one that I bought a year or so ago -- but it isn't the family heirloom I consider this), and I want to find out this baby's birthdate, too. I can tell you that I will treasure it always, and will expect my daughter to send it on down through the generations.

Gratitudes:
Kenny looks great and hopefully is still in remission (he was diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia a couple of years ago). Jean should be proud of her son -- he turned out to be a treasure himself.
Visiting with Anne again.
Family heirlooms.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Block #3...

is finished. It took me 3 or 4 evenings to finish the embroidery on this block -- there is a lot of it! Probably took me longer to do the embroidery than the applique. And, I didn't do that great of a job on the embroidery -- but that's why I like folk art/primitive -- it doesn't have to be perfect. Either way, I like it and block #4 is prepped to start the applique.

Yesterday my breadmaker died. I just bought it in April, so I was not a happy camper. I use it every week to make Honey Whole Wheat bread that we eat for breakfast. To make a long story short, I called the 800 number for Cuisinart and not only are they replacing it -- they are sending me a new one before I send them the broken one -- now that's what I call good service.
And I know what is and isn't good service.

What isn't good service is: we have a prescription card service that forced us to order by mail because they charge a smaller co-pay and they send 3 months supply of meds (and they won't allow you to buy 3 months supply at a local pharmacy). I ordered online August 9 my arthritis meds. They said they mailed them Aug. 9 -- as of yesterday they still haven't arrived and I am now out of my meds. That's 18 days to go from Pennsylvania to Illinois -- and I swear they ship them via slow boat from China. I sent them a scathing email and as each prescription comes up to be renewed, I'm switching them back to local. It's worth my blood pressure to pay a bit more for excellent service.

Today is my errand running day, but I don't have too many, so hopefully will be able to do a bit of quilting this afternoon.


Gratitudes:
Digital cameras
Primitive Gatherings' "Primitive Garden" block of the month -- I really enjoy it.
English muffins with butter.
Cuisinart Co.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Darcy got Married!

Way back in October 2005 I posted a picture of a quilt I made for DD's friend, Darcy. Darcy was in a very serious car accident two weeks before her wedding, scheduled for Oct. 15, 2005. After almost two years of recovery and therapy (and it is still not over yet), Darcy and Paul were married yesterday! Steph said she was a beautiful bride and they had a beautiful wedding.

I babysat AJ and Will and spent the night up there. I'm home this afternoon and exhausted! I honestly don't know how Steph does it with a 3½ year old and a 5 week old baby. When I brought Steph home from the hospital, Steve was already 7 years old. The kids got home about 1 am, we talked until 2, Will was up twice in the night (and I'm a light sleeper, so heard him both times), and AJ came in and got me up at 7! I left there at 9 and arrived home about 10:30 and I am definitely ready for a nap!

I hope to get some quilting done with pictures to show for it later this week!

Gratitudes:
Darcy's recovery and subsequent wedding --- God is good.
AJ can be a really sweet child, when his energy level has run down a bit. vbg
Will is a definite cuddler.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

August Heartstrings

I finished this Heartstrings quilt binding yesterday. I took it off the longarm on Monday. This one was made entirely from my guild's donated blocks -- yay for them! I'll turn it in on Monday (our annual guild picnic), and pick up another batch of blocks. I still have about 50 blocks that Sue sent to incorporate into the next one, too. I used the very simple "Popcorn" panto on it -- nice curves and simple enough that it doesn't hang up on all the many seams. Next one I'm definitely going to play with on the design board though -- getting tired of the same ole setting!

Today I spent babysitting grandkids while Steph took Will to the doctor. In the last two weeks he has gained a full pound and grew an inch! He's still a little cuddler though, don't want him to grow too fast! Briana and AJ were both great today, too - it was a nice visit. Quality time!

Gratitudes:
AJ
hugs
Will cuddles
Briana's smile
A nice dinner out last night with Steve & Kim.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

I'm Back!


I've spent my time doing a lot of thinking, making some changes, making some lists, enjoying my family, and quilting!
Probably the most profound thing I thought was that Life Should Be Full of Quality Time. Go about your daily lives, but make sure the time you spend with family is quality time, the time you spend with friends is quality time, the time you spend quilting is quality time. I was wasting so much time on the computer in the mornings that the rest of the day got wasted too. So, I've gone "special notices only" on a couple of chat lists, unsubbed from a lot of ads, reduced my inbox to quality emails that I want to receive. It has freed up quite a bit of time for me to be more productive in other areas.
These thoughts weren't just because of Jean's death, of course, but I am inspired by her. She lived a long and happy life and I will always remember that she was the hardest working person I ever met -- she never just sat around on the computer -- she would come to our house to visit and go out and pull weeds in the flower beds! And she still spent quality time with friends and family.
So, I'm driving up to see the grandkids about once a week; I'm making those phone calls to family I always put off (because I hate talking on the phone) -- my late sister's husband told me he and his sister trade off calls about every two weeks -- just five minutes to say Hi and we're doing okay, how 'bout you? -- I thought that was a great idea, just to keep in touch with those that don't live in the area; I contacted an old college friend whose friendship had been reduced to Christmas cards -- we all have busy lives, but here's where the computer can be an asset, I think.
I've made a Loose Ends list. This is not something morbid, not things I want to do before I die --(well, actually, I do need to get them finished by then!) - it's a list of all those things I need to finish. I've already crossed a couple of things off the list. I finally finished putting the stack of photos I had sitting around into the albums; I spent a couple of hours piecing leftover batting scraps into larger pieces and measured and marked the larger pieces to make it easier to use them; it has been my habit for years to grab a large piece of Warm & Natural batting to pin to a quilt hanging in the clutter room to use as a design wall -- I now have a large piece of batting that is pieced from many smaller pieces and it will be my go-to design wall instead of wasting a good piece; I bought a picture hanger kit yesterday at Wal Mart and last night Bill and I hung the poster sized collage our dear son-in-law designed and made for him for Father's Day - and that explains the photo! Bill was a belly-gunner and mechanic in the US Navy during WWII -- he flew in the Liberator planes in the Pacific. He was 17 when he joined the Navy, right out of high school - he came back at the age of 20 and went to college on the GI bill.

Gratitudes:
Time - either to waste or be productive, it's my choice.
Bloggers -- I consider reading my favorite blogs quality time!
AJ - even when he's being a bit of a devil.
Briana - she babysat Will yesterday so Mom could get a shower in.
Will -- poor baby now has Thrush, probably because he falls asleep when he's nursing, with milk in his mouth!
Bill -- I am proud to be his wife.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Hour a Day and a Sabbatical

I finished my Hour a Day top -- I only added 3 of the 7 borders -- borders are not my favorite thing to put on a quilt! vbg I do like the quilt a lot and it was fun to make. Thanks, Judy, for another great design.

We lost my favorite sister in law yesterday. She was Bill's baby sister, Jean. We had a couple of days to prepare, but I don't think one can really prepare for the finality of it all. Jean was a true free-spirit, a maverick, a fun-loving, hard working person that literally would give you the shirt off her back (she actually gave my daughter a shirt she had admired!). She and her husband farmed for most of their married life and when they retired from farming, they bought a golf course. They worked 18 hour days 365 days a year for 10 years before Dean died. She sold the golf course a year or two later and spent her retirement traveling and living life to the fullest. She will be truly missed.

We've had a couple of life-altering events in a matter of weeks here and I've been thinking for quite a while that I needed to take a break from the computer. So, I'm going to take a sabbatical, some time for some introspection, reflection, reconnection with the outside world and my family. I won't be gone from the computer completely, but I'm going to resign or go no-mail on most of my lists and I'm going to take a break from blogging for a little bit of time. I hope to come back refreshed with a new perspective on things.

Gratitudes
I'm thankful Jean was a part of my life for the past 26 years.